ABSTRACT
This chapter explores connections between painter Gustav Klimt’s and Kubrick’s feminine universes in which graceful and fearless women are both the symbols of divinity and erotic destruction. To what extent did Klimt’s femmes fatales shape Kubrick’s female roles in Eyes Wide Shut? Alice Harford transforms herself from a femme fragile and femme fatale, and ultimately into a femme forte. Surrounded by a golden halo, she is both Klimt’s sophisticated Adele Bloch-Bauer, seen as her husband desired her to be seen by others, as well as the predatory Judith who symbolically castrates Bill, displaying her trophy/his mask on the pillow beside her. All the other women whom Bill encounters—Mandy, Domino, Marion, Sally, or Milich’s daughter—can be associated with Klimt’s complex allegories such as Hope I, Nuda Veritas, The Virgin, The Bride, Death and Life, Adam and Eve. These pale and proud women (whether wealthy ladies or high-class prostitutes) are, in fact, modern versions of Lilith, Eve, Judith, or Salome. They refuse to stay passive and asexual “household nuns,” choosing to acknowledge their sexual longings fearlessly.
