Szabo proclaiming himself Hungarian got a good chuckle out of me. In fact, his whole come on seemed comical. His heavy accent and educated, yet cheesy lines, seemed like he was a character from a different era. Did anyone else find it hard to think that she would take him seriously? I'm not criticizing the writing or anything about the movie. Kubrick certainly
directed it the actor to play it this way.
"Loves turned to lust and bloods turned to dust in my heart"
If you look closely during the dancing scenes, you can see lots of old farts with very young women...lots of partner changing and so on. It seems it is something of a game - lots of subtle hints at it being a sport as such for ultra rich and wrinkly. Perhaps Bill was meant to be led away and distracted while Alice was seduced? (as in the models were paid to take bill somewhere more private and do whatever) and Mandy OD'ing interrupted this and in a sacrificial way, saved Bill from going down the rabbit hole of actually cheating on his wife and so on.
The performances are very deliberate, and 'realistic' isn't always what is intended. Don't forget Alice is quite tipsy after drinking too much. Altered perceptions and the conflict between subjectivity and objectivity are very much key themes.
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Perhaps Bill was meant to be led away and distracted while Alice was seduced?
The models seemed to be some kind of mermeids indeed! And on IMDb it says the movie intends to show Bill's "odyssey of sexual and moral discovery", so it would make sense that they were trying to divert his atention.
shareI thought he was extremely suave and VERY unsettling. He's clearly tied into the weird sex cult, and it was almost like he was hypnotizing Alice.
The actor who played him was an insanely handsome older man.
He looks a lot like the geezer who makes the woman's red cloak disappear and changes her into a new woman...the scene I'm referring to is just after Alice says she has to go to the bathroom. The geezer is the Jan Harlan looking dude.
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there is a doc on youtube about it he is supposed to be this hungarian illuminati dude or something Kubrick often left subtle messages this whole movie was a subtle message about MKultra, sex slaves and more.
shareI think there is some truth to this, his dialog seems like post hypnotic suggestion and her reaction is very trance like.
shareSandor is definitely evoking themes that were likely drawn on more from the book in Traumnovelle. Sandor is spitting image of a 19th century gentleman making conversion about fine art, ancient history and the like. Some other possiblities
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/György_Ligeti
Ligeti is Hungarian and is used in a ton of Kubrick films. The Shining, 2001 and Eyes Wide Shut. According to Wikipedia " At the German premiere of that film, by which time Kubrick had died, his widow was escorted by Ligeti himself. " So it's likely that Kubrick knew him personally but him being embodied as this character seems nothing more than an easter egg
Source : http://www.newyorker.com/culture/goings-on/clarke-kubrick-and-ligeti-a-tale
Other speculations are Anton Szandor Lavey. Founder of the Church of Satan and LaVeyan Satanism which ties in nicely with the pentagrams in the background during their conversation. There are probably others who can add more to this than I can
Interesting transition frame where it looks likes Alice is kissing him if you pause at the right moment http://i.imgur.com/rDHNN75.jpg
Well, since EWS was originally conceived as a dark sex comedy starring Steve Martin...
This signature is hilarious and original.
NAAAT!
He was Count Dracula.
http://www.imdb.com/list/_OaGg-zdQKo/
This Hungarian business also connects back to Kubrick's earlier "Barry Lyndon" where there was also mention of someone being Hungarian, but from the more direct perspective of fake personas. Recall the dialogue between Redmond Barry and the Prussian Captain Potzdorf:
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POTZDORF: There is a gentleman in Berlin in the service of the Empress of Austria. He calls himself the Chevalier de Balibari. He appears to be a professional gambler. He's a libertine: Fond of women, of good food ... polished, obliging. He speaks French and German indifferently. But we have reason to believe that Monsieur de Balibari ... is a native of your country of lreland. And that he has come here as a spy. Your knowledge of English ... makes you an ideal choice to go into his service, and find out whether or not he is a spy.
MINISTER OF POLICE: Does this assignment interest you?
BARRY: Minister, I'm interested in anything that can be of service to you ... and Captain Potzdorf.
POTZDORF: You will not know a word of English. If the Chevalier remarks on your accent, say you are Hungarian. You served in the war. You left the Army for medical reasons ... then served Monsieur de Quellenberg for two years. He's now with the Army in Silesia, but you'll have a certificate from him.
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Instructing an exiled Irishman to meet another exiled Irishman and masquerade as a Hungarian who can't speak any English? And not arousing any suspicion? Like a Chinaman meeting another Chinaman and pretending to be Italian without a word of Mandarin? And so on ...
(Barry, of course, couldn't meet such a challenge; he couldn't even convincingly pretend to be, to fake, being Lieutenant FAKENHAM earlier in the film.)
What all of the above also suggests - or further confirms - is that the arrogant, lecherous, womanizing, condescending, and supposed Hungarian who vampirizes over Alice Harford at Ziegler's party in "Eyes Wide Shut" is, like Ziegler, a pathological liar ... even when he's telling the (superficial) 'truth'. Especially when he is presenting the 'truth'.
Kubrick even comments on the pretence with Alice saying 'I'm American' with a thick Australian accent.
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I also find it hard to take him seriously.
But what is off-putting is that I also think he is being over the top on purpose. That he is having a joke at Alice's expense in some way.
It started to get very scary when he offered to help Alice's career as an art gallery owner. Offers like that aren't made out of goodness, the one making the offer expects payment.
The point of that scene was:
- He's the typical old fart trolling for fresh tails, whom thinks himself super cool/suave/whatever, yet comes off as a Count Dracula wannabe loser (you did notice Alice looking at him the whole time with a "is he really for real?" look on her face, right?).
- Tom was most likely led away on purpose by those two girls to get the old geezer his opening.
- The fact that the old geezer is so self-assured gives credence to the suspicion he's indeed in control of the situation (Tom being led away) and thus gives it a really creepy subtext.
- Alice realizes this after blowing him off (after getting tired of putting up with him once Tom is out of sight and thus no more point in dancing with him to make Tom jealous) and him becoming insisting in a matter-of-fact that is not so comic anymore. Why she then stopped goofing around and quickly got away.
So it's quite clear why they were invited: to expose Alice to be picked up by one of these old farts (see how NOBODY complements Tom about his looks where as to everyone compliments Alice? Clearly she's the reason they got invited).
(see how NOBODY complements Tom about his looks where as to everyone compliments Alice?
The models obviously didn't mind his looks...his personality though...
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Yes, the models were attracted to him but neither of them were verbally complimenting him about his looks.
I think about the only times it's plausible a female will gush over a man's attractiveness is when she's his mom or other close relative, or perhaps an older lady who doesn't care anymore about the societal rules that compliments for beauty should only go in one direction (from a man given to a woman).
"I was cured all right!"
Plausible?
Anyway, Alice makes a point of it with 'what handsome dr Bill's dickie might be like' line.
As far as the verbal compliments, yes, it's typically male to female, but it's plausible for it to go the other way.
Anyway, notice in the first scene Bill checks every mirror he can. Bill is obviously fairly concerned with his looks, as well as Alice's.
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