26. A Whiter Shade of Pale &...

Lyrics

We skipped the light fandango
Turned cartwheels 'cross the floor
I was feeling kinda seasick
But the crowd called out for more
The room was humming harder
As the ceiling flew away
When we called out for another drink
And the waiter brought a tray

And so it was that later
As the miller told his tale
That her face, at first just ghostly,
Turned a whiter shade of pale

She said, "There is no reason
And the truth is plain to see."
But I wandered through my playing cards
And they would not let her be
One of sixteen vestal virgins
Who were leaving for the coast
And although my eyes were open wide
They might have just as well been closed

And so it was that later
As the miller told his tale
That her face, at first just ghostly,
Turned a whiter shade of pale


This is such an odd song on so many levels. The clip is quite strange. It feels like a  home video full of odd, slightly absurd shots. The band members also seem a bit detached from reality. And where did this band come from anyway? This is universally one of the most popular songs, but it's basically the only really well-known song of Procol Harum (and what does that name mean?). For a group who has made such a famous song Procol Harum is relatively obscure? How many people have heard of Gary Brooker, who is apparently the lead singer? Lastly the music doesn't really fit its vague and mysterious lyrics. It was pretty hard to link a movie to it and eventually I chose a movie by Kubrick. I realize that this is already the third Kubrick film in 26 entries, but, I promise!, this will the last Kubrick in a long time. And it's not a very illogical choice. The lyrics make it seem as if the singer is at some mysterious, slightly dangerous, orgy-like party. Besides the lyrics  'And although my eyes were open wide They might have just as well been closed' are a long-winded way to say 'my eyes were wide shut' which is close to the title of a Kubrick film that coincidentally features a famous scene involving an orgy. The scene is so famous in fact that although I had not seen the film before, I knew that there was an orgy scene in it.
 
The Movie: Eyes Wide Shut (Stanley Kubrick, 1999)

1999 was quite an interesting year for American movies. Many great, or at least interesting, movies came out that were very original and quite unconventional in form and/or content. Many of these movies also shared certain thematic elements. In 1999, due to many important developments in the 20th century that was now coming to an end, the lives of many people in the western world had been better than ever. There was relative economic prosperity and the people in the 'west' weren't much affected by war. Sometimes the biggest problem facing the western world seemed to be the possible millennium bug, which turned out to be much ado about nothing. In other words people in the west lived tidy, peaceful, decent lives. Many of these 1999 movies examined these lives critically. They claimed that these lives that, at the surface seemed to be so perfect, were not completely unproblematic. Their protagonists felt numbed by the monotony of their ordinary life, they felt unable to express their (true) emotions and their individuality, they wanted to have adventures and to be able to give in to their most basic desires. They wanted to live another life, sometimes even literally.  

So in Best Picture winner of that year, American Beauty we see Kevin Spacey quitting his job and divorcing his wife in order to whatever he wants and to pursue an affair with a female friend of his daughter. In Fight Club Edward Norton starts fight clubs where men can go and beat each other up. The men in Fight Club feel useless in this modern world with Ikea-furniture and without Great Wars and hope these fight clubs will get their manliness back. In Magnolia Tom Cruise plays a man who has success teaching men how to assert control over their wives and thus fuck them whenever they want. And in general most characters in Magnolia are discontent with their not so bad lives. In Being John Malkovich a portal to John Malkovich's head enables people to experience life as John Malkovich for 15 minutes. Naturally these portal becomes a success and despite the fact that it causes much misery to the main protagonists they still want to go through it. In The Matrix (to me the best film of that year) it is even posited that this current world of ours is run by machines who manipulate us and that we aren't really free Many others who at least touch on these themes include Arlington Road, Dogma, Boys Don't Cry, The Talented Mr. Ripley, The Sixth Sense, Office Space, and obviously Eyes Wide Shut (This whole text is not for nothing!).

One could argue that in Eyes Wide Shut Kubrick goes even further than in the rest of those films. The discontent protagonists in the films I've mentioned previously are ordinary citizens. They are office workers, insurance agents or failed puppeteers. In Eyes Wide Shut it is the New York elite that organizes elaborate, secret orgies in order to fulfill their desires and escape their dreary lives. And while the orgy scene is the most absurd, and downright bonkers, scene of Kubrick I've yet seen, even before that scene Kubrick presents the New York elite as a sex-obsessed bunch. The film begins with a his Christmas party at some rich New Yorker named Victor Ziegler. It's not exactly known, or at least I can't remember, what he does, but he is obviously someone of relative importance. He lives in a lavish house with multiple floors, a ball room and for his party he has hired a pianist to play live classical piano music. While the party goes on in the ball room, Victor is upstairs having sex and using drugs with some prostitute who nearly overdoses. Luckily for Victor one of his invitees is our main protagonist Dr. Bill Harford (Tom Cruise) who helps her. While Bill is upstairs, downstairs in the ball room his wife Alice (Nikole Kidman) is dancing with a Hungarian millionaire who shamelessly flirts with her. While she doesn't give in to him, it's obvious she is enjoying it. And when Bill is on his way upstairs to Victor, he is waylaid by two women who very obviously want to have sex with him. This will turn out to be quite a common occurrence for Bill. Almost everyone he meets in this film is sexually aroused by Bill. Back home, Bill and Alice discuss (some of) their weird adventures at Victor's party when their conversation turns to sexual fantasies, Alice confesses one of her sexual fantasies to Bill. Unfortunately for him, Alice's fantasy does not involve Bill. This confession shocks him so much that it leads him on a nightly walk across the sexually charged streets of New York. His wandering leads him to various odd characters and the famous orgy.

While this is not one of Kubrick's most famous and critically lauded films, it is now my favorite film of his. This is basically a very dark, provocative, comedy. And Kubrick knows it's provocative and has fun with it. Besides the hilariously shocking orgy scene, I very much enjoyed the scene where Alice confesses her sexual fantasy to Bill. Before doing various plastic surgeries, Nicole Kidman was incredibly sexy and beautiful. In her confession scene she is also dressed in a very sexy way. Not only is she dressed just in her underwear, the underwear isn't very concealing. On top of this she is making all kinds of sexy movements during her talking. Tom Cruise is also dressed pretty scarcely and seems to be in great shape. I can imagine that this is a movie many couples went to see together.That's probably something Kubrick expected too. I really believe that part of the purpose of this scene is to provoke (the couples in) the audience to have sexual fantasies about Cruise and Kidman, or at least make them think about it. It is hard not to be at least a bit sexually attracted to Kidman in that scene. More importantly, even if you aren't sexually attracted to her, it is an objective fact that what she is doing in that scene is in our society considered to be conventionally sexually attractive for people who are sexually attracted to women. It is something both men and women know. The same can be said of Cruise, but for people who are sexually attracted to men. Which can be quite awkward for the couple watching the movie. And considering the marital problems caused by Alice's confession of sexual attraction to another man, it might even be extra hard for the couple in the audience to talk honestly and to believe each other about their possible sexual attraction to Cruise or Kidman.

That's just one example of what Kubrick wants to do in his movie. He wants to challenge the norms of our society, involving (sexual) behavior in relationships. He wants to show that while these norms are logical, they are arbitrary constructs. They are not natural, but they are constructed by human beings. There is no natural reason why they couldn't be different. Why, for example, does our partner accept that we dance with another woman and not that we kiss her? And what's the exact border between acceptable and unacceptable behavior? Lastly Kubrick also touches on the idea that many people see their partner as their one true love and put him/her on a pedestal. Whatever I can say about this, won't be as eloquent as what the great comedian Tim Minchin says in his great song If I Didn't Have You. This may be the best love song ever, precisely because of its honesty and because he presents his wife as a normal human being and not as some sort of infallible honesty. If you think it's arrogant, it is important to note that Minchin, now in his late 30's is together with his wife since they were 17