SARTRE AND KUBRICK:

EXISTENTIALISM IN EYES WIDE SHUT (1999)

Abstract

Cinema is capable of provoking astonishment and admiration in the viewer, both fundamental conditions for philosophical reflection, as Plato and Aristotle stated. More than the search for the reproduction of reality in its images, cinema provides the production of knowledge and meanings and its particular language enhances the capacity for reflection, understanding and synthesizing emotion and reason, reality and the imaginary. This article elucidates the possible relationship between Philosophy and cinema using mainly the notion of “image-concept”, originating from the reflections of Julio Cabrera (2006). The proposal is to interpret the film Eyes Wide Shut (1999), by Stanley Kubrick, in the light of Jean Paul Sartre's existentialist conceptions. In this sense, the selected film presents fundamental aspects of Sartre's humanist existentialism, such as the total responsibility of the human being, the moral, anguish, helplessness and despair. Questions that will be explored in the analysis of this last work created by Kubrick's genius.