Last Chance To Watch Tom Cruise’s Most Erotic Film On Netflix

Stanley Kubrick's final film, Eyes Wide Shut, starring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, will be leaving Netflix on December 31st.

By Danyell Marshall | Published

This article is more than 2 years old

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Eyes Wide Shut, the controversial erotic thriller starring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, will be leaving Netflix as of December 31. The removal is part of regularly scheduled changes to the streaming service, which includes a list of titles. However, unlike most, Eyes Wide Shut is one of the most banned films ever made.

The mind-bending Stanley Kubrick film explores taboo aspects of human sexuality, trust, and morals. Tom Cruise portrays Manhattan doctor Bill Harford and Nicole Kidman plays his wife, Alice. The psychological drama begins when Alice reveals to her husband that she’s feeling unfulfilled with their sex life, moreover, she confesses she came close to having an affair a year prior.

Tom Cruise’s Harford devolves into lust and madness as he finds himself in a masked bacchanal. Harford has uncovered a secret society and grapples with issues of morality and fidelity. His brush with a dark and threatening secret society drives him back into the arms of his wife and away from danger.

Stanley Kubrick considered Eyes Wide Shut his most significant contribution to film. The sexy, dangerous thriller was primarily filmed in the United Kingdom, with the shoot taking 400 days, earning it a Guinness World Record for the most extended consecutive film shoot. Unfortunately, his magnum opus was the last film he would ever make as the Full Metal Jacket director died shortly after presenting the film to Warner Bros.

The film is based on Arthur Schnitzler’s novella Dream Story. The novella is set in Vienna, but the story beautifully adapts to 1990s New York. Unlike the couple portrayed by Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, the couple in the Novella are not in love, instead, the two hate each other.

There is no graphic orgy like in Eyes Wide Shut, but the novella did contain a ball where nude patrons danced and hosts dressed as nuns and monks. Kubrick’s version is more sexual and threatening, reflecting its modern urban setting. Kubrick knew the story was perfect for a film adaptation and bought the rights years before Eyes Wide Shut entered production.

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Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise in Eyes Wide Shut

Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman starred in a total of three films together. In Days of Thunder, Cruise plays a NASCAR driver while Far and Away is a western adventure romance. Their work together resulted in more than just a few movies.

Kidman and Cruise met on the set of Days of Thunder in 1990 with the pair marrying shortly after. Throughout their marriage, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman had two children together, though Kidman isn’t the only star Cruise has kids with. Scientology played a part in the couple’s split after nearly a decade together and their divorce was tabloid fodder, but the on-screen chemistry is preserved in their films.

Cruise and Kidman dominated the silver screen as a 1990s Hollywood power couple and their real-life relationship contributed to their stellar performances as a passionate, but troubled couple in Eyes Wide Shut. If you want to catch this risque thriller, act fast before it leaves Netflix. As demand and contracts dictate, the streaming service will continue to remove dozens of titles every month, so don’t wait too long to hit “play.”