FIVE STARS

It’s a morality movie for sure.

Morality, however, through the eyes of director Stanley Kubrick, has a reputation for being pretty damn twisted. That’s the fun.

Kubrick has taken a seemingly dried up theme — the consequences of infidelity — and turned it into the most engaging film of the year. And he does it without dazzling special effects or deafening sound effects. Add the combined talents of superstar couple Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman and what would normally be categorized as a late night Cinemax feature becomes a tensely gripping and beautiful movie.

“Eyes Wide Shut” is the story of Dr. William Harford (Cruise) and his wife Alice (Kidman), an upper-middle-class yuppie couple living in one of the poshest districts of Manhatten. Since Bill is a successful physician, the two spend their weekends at the most lavish get-togethers where the opportunities for marital infidelity are as common as the “kisses hello.”

At just one of these gatherings, Alice is courted by a distinguished, rich guy with a sexy accent while Bill gets a proposition by two models into what is commonly referred to as menage a trois. Neither of them act on these opportunities out of consideration for the other, but the thought crosses their minds, and that is enough to spark the jealous rage in each of them.

The next evening brings about a confessional from Alice about the sacrifices she might have made (her career, life and family) if she was given the chance.

This leads Dr. Bill on an all night, extravagant excursion that puts him into the arms of a patient’s weeping daughter, the quaint apartment of a street prostitute and topped off with a psuedo-satanic upper-class orgy.

And that’s just the first half of the movie.

Bill’s faithfulness to his wife is tested at all of these venues and, without giving away any major plot points, his life is tested in manners that are nerve-racking nail-bitters.

Kubrick is also in his rare, yet untested form. The standard long shots and long takes are juxtaposed with the extreme close-ups where he allows the actors to do most of the storytelling, rather than the director.

Accompanying his masterful style is another trademark classical soundtrack that is as much a character as Bill and Alice. Piano chords seemed to have found their way into places where a single point is punctuated while elevating its poignancy. The music is used in the same fashion that Kubrick brought Stauss in to make spaceships waltz in 2001, and where Beethoven created an irony in “A Clockwork Orange.”

Kubrick also didn’t make a mistake by casting Cruise and Kidman, who electrify the screen. This is by far Cruise’s best film since, well, ever. And Kidman, whose screen time is actually small in comparison to Cruise, adds just enough sexiness and class. Knowing that these two are a married couple doesn’t detract from their abilities to act, but simply exemplifies it.

To dispel any media rumors, “Eyes Wide Shut” is not a two-and-a-half-hour sexfest. In fact, the sexual scenes hardly take up any time at all, nor are they erotic. Kubrick paints the darker side of human sexual exploration with frightening vengeance and the audience is left to decide how extreme to take the voyeurism.

The proper way to prepare for a viewing of “Eye”s would be to down a couple shots of espresso to help heighten the attention span. At 156 minutes this doesn’t move at the pace of most mainstream films, but the time spent is well worth the surprise at the end.

This is a film for anyone who has thought that for just a moment he could practice a little adultery and get away with it. It will also be an appropriate escape not only for those who see no wrong in a little infidelity, but for those who are strongly opposed to even the thought.

“Eyes” is a crowning achievement as Stanley Kubrick’s swan song, and it is arguably his best film since “A Clockwork Orange.”

It is unfortunate that the film-loving audience will not be blessed with any more masterpieces from this movie-making genius.