Michel Chion's book on Eyes Wide Shut may disappoint some looking for a solid, unwavering analysis of the film. Chion offers no such thing. Rather, he approaches the film with a sensitive, keen eye for detail and a penchant for unique and quirky insights. He makes many observations, but has no urge to unite all these observations under one thematic banner, as many are wont to do. That is, Chion observes Eyes Wide Shut as a film full of signifiers, without signifieds. For Chion, there is no signified-in-waiting, no monumental possible revelation of the film's "meaning," that will tie all the patterns and events of the film together. This is somewhat refreshing, as most people seek to pin a film down- to make declarative, concrete statements on what the film, without hesitation, is "about."
Chion's love for the film is so seemingly great that he cannot bring himself to pin it down to anything in particular. Which is fine; Eyes Wide Shut is indeed a film brimming with ambuguity, a film in which, as Chion notes, banal and supposedly important lines of dialogue are given the same level of attention and emphasis. (Chion: "The film does not impose on us a hierarchy of what is important and what is not.") All in all, this is a great, fascinating read- though somewhat slight, coming in at just under 100 pages. Anyone infatuated with Eyes Wide Shut would do well to give Chion's book a chance, though with a fair warning not to expect any sort of traditional analysis.
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