Like any film that is carefully constructed, Eyes Wide Shut is the sum of its elements and of the ways by which these interact with each other. The most significant elements of the film are 1) color, particularly red, blue and yellow; 2) sound, such as voices plus external and internal music; 3) camera movement, especially the track-forward, track-backward and the revolving shot; 4) the dissolve, as the main transition technique between shots; and 5) the recursive figures of the Female Nude, Masks and Christmas Trees. Some of the

Part II presents the protagonist's prolonged reaction to his wife's confession, and leads up to his participation in "The House". In the first sequence of this second part, Bill attends to the death of a patient, whose inconsolable daughter Marion (Marie Richardson) confesses her platonic love for him in a slow and jagged voice (loss and heartache being here the "justifiers"). By the end of this scene, it is clear that Bill is made the target of women's solicitations, the next of which takes the form of a prostitute ("Domino", played by Vinessa Shaw) who summons him up to her apartment and leads him through a building's bright red doors. This entrance marks the first phase of the character's transformation. Although these female characters are in neither case seen in the nude, the recursive figure of the Mask is introduced. Inside the bedroom where Marion's father lies as she confesses her love, there is a stone mask (or what seems to be a decorative replication of a tribal mask of some kind) resting vertically on a night table in the background, at the far left side of the screen. Later, in Domino's bedroom, two walls hold a series of colored paper mache masks. However, although the appearance of Masks in these scenes is subtle and does not establish a meaning, this recursive figure is defined and finds full statement in "The House" sequence.

Inside the House, Bill finds himself amidst a superbly choreographed and orchestrated orgy. He enters a room filled with people in black cloaks and extravagant masks which hide all their identities. Nick, blindfolded, plays in the background to accompany the ritualistic movements of the members. In the center of the room, a circle of masked women in the nude and in high heels select their sex partners and proceed to other rooms. In this scene, the music, sound effects, the overall design of the masks and the choreography of the characters' movements are all carefully layered to produce a unique and sophisticated world whose inhabitants are its natural extension. Conflict arises when Bill is identified as an outsider to the group in spite of the cloak and the mask, a fact which again points to the character's inadequacy and lack of belonging as resulting not from his camouflaged presence but from his ignorance of the "rules of the game" or the "true code of access" into this codified world.

In the meantime, Alice drinks several glasses of champagne and dances with a pressing suitor. Half drunk and in full coquettish swing, her swaying disposition and her reluctant tongue oscillate between words, like a pendulum pulsating a decrepit waltz. Upstairs, Bill in a demanding staccato calls out to Mandy's dying ear: "Mandy...can you hear me? Can you hear me...Mandy? Look at me...Mandy." In both cases, Alice's drunkenness and flirtatiousness, and Bill's tense, yet hopeful tone produce a slowness in their way of speaking and in the overall rhythm of the scenes. This device becomes characteristic of the film, where whatever altered state the character happens to be in (fear, shock, distress, stupor) can be defined as a "justifier" for the prolongation of his or her oral statement.

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Approximate Word count = 2508
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)