On the surface, this movie seems like a typical Kubrick flick complete with single camera shots, trailing from room to room of meticulously laid out sets that feature mediocre acting performances by at-the-time power couple Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. However, beneath the shallow characters of Bill and Alice Harford lies a more complex story told through, however slow moving, action. Bill and Alice have been married for nine years and have a daughter, the opening Christmas party scene sets up the thoughts they are both having of sexual promiscuity. After Alice confesses to fantasizing about a certain naval officer, Bill sets out on a quest to the underground sexual depravity scene of New York City. He intermingles with characters from kind prostitutes to overly wealthy members of a secret cult who partake in ritualistic orgies. He is able to infiltrate the disturbing group with the thinly veiled metaphor of a Venetian mask.
Although the film can get a little preachy, pounding in messages of the morality of differing socioeconomic classes and the perils of betraying monogamous relationships, its ultimately a film worth your time, if only for the sake of its imagery and creative story telling.
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