A conspiracy hidden in plain sight: Is ‘Eyes Wide Shut’ about the Illuminati?
It’s not difficult to uncover a conspiracy if anyone goes in with the express intention of finding one, with Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut just one of many features hailing from the legendary filmmaker that found itself being tied to the Illuminati.
Depending on who gets asked or what any given person believes, the secret society is either lurking in the shadows to surreptitiously pull the strings on every major geopolitical and societal shift, or complete nonsense only believed in by a select band of foil hat-wearing people who spend far too much time reading between lines that aren’t even there, to begin with.
Kubrick’s filmography has become a regular point of discussion among those who favour a conspiratorial slant to their motion pictures, though, with everything from Lolita and 2001: A Space Odyssey to A Clockwork Orange and The Shining being linked to the Illuminati in one way or another. However, and it goes without saying based entirely on its aesthetic and iconography, Eyes Wide Shut is in a class of its own.
There are multiple different ways to interpret the slow-burning psychological, sexual thriller, even if Tom Cruise would much rather prefer it doesn’t come from a wholly salacious angle. For the conspiracy theorists, they were left rubbing their hands in glee when the film boasted a secretive organisation with uninhibited proclivities using elite status and mask-clad anonymity to behave however they saw fit.
Not even the marketing campaign was safe from dissection, with one of the posters featuring Nicole Kidman’s Alice setting alarm bells ringing among believers. In the one-sheet in question, which shows her looking away as Cruse’s Bill Harford leans in for a smooch, only one of her eyes is visible. Of course, one of the Illuminati’s most recognisable symbols is that of the all-seeing eye, which opened the doors to much rumination on Kubrick’s subtle reflections on the clandestine group.
For those who prefer to dive even deeper into the rabbit hole, the all-seeing eye symbol is also on the one-dollar bill in American currency. Cruise’s character is a doctor, and if you say Dr. Bill fast enough, it almost sounds like ‘dollar bill’. Just like that, minds are blown, confirmation is provided, and Eyes Wide Shut really is Kubrick trying to uncover and shine a light on the very real Illuminati. Well, not really, but it’s nonetheless been pushed forward by proponents of the theory.
Naturally, when Kubrick passed away in March 1999, less than a week after screening his cut of Eyes Wide Shut to friends, family, and members of the cast and crew, those with an affinity for a conspiracy theory were adamant that the director had actually been killed for daring to expose the Illuminati and its goings-on through the narrative, aesthetic, symbolism, and thematic undertones of what turned out to be his final movie.
Is there any proof that even remotely supports such far-fetched and outlandish claims? Absolutely not. Of course, the current misinformation era has ensured that facts are never allowed to get in the way of a conspiracy should enough folks buy into it, even if Eyes Wide Shut was an adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler’s Dream Story and there were never any accusations lobbied at the source material in peeling the curtain back to reveal the true nature of the Illuminati.
