The Criterion Collection will release a brand new 4K-UHD disc of the International version of celebrated filmmaker Stanley Kubrick’s final screen work, Eyes Wide Shut, on November 25, 2025. The digital restoration was supervised and approved by the director of photography Larry Smith.
Kubrick (Dr. Strangelove, A Clockwork Orange) first had the idea of adapting Austrian writer Arthur Schnitzler’s Traumnovelle (Dream Story) into a film after the release of 2001: A Space Odyssey in 1968. He secured the rights and the idea went through many development phases, until he finally landed on a screenplay (credit to Kubrick and Frederic Raphael—Oscar winner for Darling and nominee for Two for the Road) and stellar cast, Tom Cruise & Nicole Kidman, then a couple.
The contemporized plot, set in a dreamy NYC, sees Dr. Bill Harford (Cruise) and his wife, Alice dealing with their envy, desires and fears, after Alice tells Bill about an intense fantasy she had involving a sailor. The reveal agitates Bill, who find himself almost bedding a call girl that same night. Then after an encounter with an old med school buddy, now jazz musician (played by future Oscar-nominated writer-director of Tár, Todd Field), Bill attends a secret masked party where a bizarre sexual ritual takes place. He is called out and the power elite in attendance threaten him.
Kubrick went through a long post-production process and on March 1, 1999, screened the film for Cruise, Kidman and Warner Brothers suits. Kubrick died six days later. The ‘finished’ film world premiered at the Venice Film Festival in August of 1999.
There was some controversy over just how complete the cut was. Some argued there were some small tech issues like looping, music, and color correction still to be done. Others claim it was not a cut the auteur would have been happy to have released. We will never know the real answer.
The film also ran into some censorship issues with the orgy scene and the decision was made to block out graphic sexual moments instead of cutting them—for the U.S. print. International audiences were privy to the original cut.
The film feels timelier today than ever and looks astonishingly good on 4K. This Criterion 3-disc special edition includes a host of goodies for fans of the film and Kubrick fans, including a new chat with cinematographer Larry Smith.
Smith’s DP work includes Nicolas Winding Refn’s Fear X (2003), Bronson (2008) and Only God Forgives (2013) as well as John Michael McDonagh’s The Guard (2011), Calvary (2014) and The Forgiven (2021). In addition, he lensed Tom Hooper’s Red Dust (2004), Shari Springer Berman & Robert Pulcini’s Things Heard & Seen (2021), Adam Patterson & Declan Lawn’s Rogue Agent (2022) and Jamie Payne’s Luther: The Fallen Sun (2023).
His TV credits include Cold Feet (1999), Love in a Cold Climate (2001), Prime Suspect: The Last Witness (2003) and Elizabeth I (2005) all for Tom Hooper as well as Agatha Christie’s Marple (for Nicolas Winding Refn in 2009) and Dark Angel (2016).
The Contending conducted a chat with the gifted Smith about Eyes Wide Shut and his relationship with Kubrick.
