10. What Does Milichs Daughter Whisper to Bill Harford? (Eyes Wide Shut)
While the reputation of legendary filmmaker, Stanley Kubrick, evokes a variety of admirable artistic traits, subtlety isnt chief among them. Mischief and provocation rank higher, so it was perhaps along these lines that a scene in Eyes Wide Shut ended up with an intentionally inaudible, whispered line of dialogue. In a film which purposefully strains the audiences credulity to the point we question whether its better understood as a dream, this
absence of information is tantalising. And Kubricks death, having occurred before its completion, raises the question of whether its content was ever supposed to have been revealed. Given the technological environment and filmmaking culture typical of Kubricks career, it was perhaps reasonable of him to expect that those present could be bound to secrecy; that the screenplays would be archived; that he would have control over his films subtitles, should they be added. Perhaps his sudden death altered history; that and the rapidly increasing capacity of the internet to erase the divide between the scene and everything behind it. Personally, I solved the mystery by renting the DVD and reading the subtitles: You should have a cloak lined with ermine, is the line, apparently. Certainly, once youre listening closely, Leelee Sobieskis lips and barest whisper do match it. And the screenplay which eventually found its way online expresses essentially the same idea. So I guess thats it, then? Well, nonot really. The fact remains that, due to Kubricks death, were not sure whether the line was
supposed to be inaudiblewhether it would have been the directors final intention. By the same token, its foreseeable that Kubrick realised the line would eventually come to light, providing a clue as to the films meaning, hinging upon the significance of ermine.
Clues, I should say. Ermines two most obvious significations are virtual opposites. On one hand, its association with European royalty (especially in the context of a costume shop), suggests that Milichs daughter (whod just been indulging in a little role-play herself, by the looks of things), meant, either sincerely or ironically, that Bill Harford should play a king (or at least binge like one). Its other relationship is to masochism, thanks to Sacher-Masochs novel Venus in Furs, whose titular dominatrix is draped in the stuff, head to toe. Ultimately, well never know what the line means, or whether we were even meant to hear it. And like many of the ambiguities in Kubricks films, the interpretation we prefer will always be a projection of our own fantasies.