Eyes Wide Shut - The Password
Darth Nub
significance of, but which seems to have a certain importance
lent to it in the film.
The password itself does not seem to be a puzzle - "Fidelio" -
in a story about relationships, a word suggesting fidelity does
not seem exactly cryptic. I'm more confused about what the
existence of a password at all is meant to mean, not the word
itself. It's very hard to explain, but when reference is made to
it, first by Red Cloak and then Victor Ziegler, a great deal of
emphasis seems to be put on it. The fact that there is "a
password for admittance", then "a password for the house", and
that it doesn't matter whether Bill has "forgotten it, or if
(he) never knew it". When Ziegler refers to it, he also seems to
be speaking in riddles, as if there is more to what he is saying
than just the literal truth - "Not because you didn't know it...
it's because there was no second password".
Unfortunately, it's very hard to explain why this has been
nagging at me, as it is less to do with the words themselves,
although I think they hold the key to the answer, it's more to
do with how they are delivered in the film. The 'trap' which
catches Bill Harford out just seems to be far more than a simple
plot device. What does Bill's use of a password to gain
admittance to the party represent, and what does his ignorance
of a second password mean?
Any thoughts? I have to admit that this one has me stumped. The
only theories I have managed to formulate seem far too naive and
predictable, so I won't bother repeating them.
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Milich
My theories will be naive and obvious as well. My first reaction
after seeing the film the first time was the connection between
fidelity the password and fidelity the wedding vow. In the film,
Dr. Bill gives the password with little thinking of what
consequences await just as in his marriage he vows fidelity, like
all of us married folk, with equally little thought of the
consequences. He treats Alice's fidelity as a given, with the
prospect of Alice's infidelity being given little or no thought
until her confession that keeping the initial promise became
difficult very easily. However, now, deep within the Ball he is
asked for the same word but under a different disguise. He knows
it, he just doesn't know that he knows it. Of course it doesn't
matter whether he forgot it or never knew it, the net effect is
the same; he could not say that which he had so easily said a
short time before.I really think this closely parallels the very
different notions of fidelity the wedding vow and fidelity the
day-to-day reality. We easily gain addmitance to marriage
ceremoniously reciting words without REALLY thinking of the
implications. Yet the reality of holding to that promise for a
lifetime (forever) cannot be done so easily for yourself or taken
for granted in your partner.
Peter Tonguette
In the opera "Fidelio", the wife rescues the husband from prison - does Alice,
in a sense, "rescue" Bill through her story about the Naval Officer?
Peter
James
reply is(and I don't remeber the direct qoute), "What is that?" BILL
DOESN'T KNOW WHAT FIDELITY IS!
James
Darth Nub
obvious.
However, what does Ziegler mean when he says that "There was no
second password"? Is this Bill's subconscious trying to deal
with the situation by saying that the second password (i.e. the
reality of marriage) doesn't matter, doesn't really exist. My
own theory regarding Ziegler has always been that he is
representative of Bill's 'Ego' trying to rationalise everything
by repressing reality so he doesn't have to deal with it -
"Everything's just fine, life goes on, it never really
happened" - in other words, he is NOT telling the truth. I
remember a debate on this discussion group and on the message
boards about whether Ziegler was lying or not. My own reply was
that taking EWS, its characters & its situations on a literal
level was missing the point - the film is about Bill Harford's
interior life, not the story which is 'happening' to him.
However, it's interesting to look back at the question and
interpret it differently. Ziegler is lying, or at least hiding
something - he is shielding Bill from reality, that's the point
of his existence. If this is true, his comment about the
password must be wrong in some way - an answer designed to
protect or reassure Bill by misleading him.
So what was the point of the scene at the party where Bill goes
upstairs to help Mandy? Like the scene with Bill & Ziegler in
the billiard room at the end, this was an original creation,
rather than an adaptation of something from Traumnovelle.
Sorry to jump off the original topic, but for every answer in
this film there's just more questions...
Milich
>
>
>Sorry to jump off the original topic, but for every answer in
>this film there's just more questions...
>
As I said on the other site, I think the first Mandy scene,
initiated by Ziegler, actually begins Bill's journey. By this
point in the Film, Bill is already in trouble. He is inattentive
to his family (not knowing sitter's name, responding to Alice
without thought), he obviously enjoys hanging with the models and
he is overimpressed with himself as a Doctor. So he goes into
the bathroom and tells Mandy that she "is a very lucky girl" she
will be "alright this time" but will "need some rehab". As will
Bill. It is as if Victor brings Bill into the bathroom
(again...a bathroom) in order to begin his rehab. Likewise...he
summons him to the pool room to, in my opinion, peel the
extraneous layers off of Bill's mysterious journey (what if I
told you it was all a charade) and leave him with the unvarnished
reality of his actions. His statement that "there was no second
password" to me is like saying "you have been looking for
something that is right in front of you...now get over it".
BK
Kevin D. Thomas
> This is a part of EWS which I can't quite figure out the
> significance of, but which seems to have a certain importance
> lent to it in the film.
Im not sure if it carries any meaning...but just as a neat congruity -
Fidelio is Beethoven's ONLY opera. There is only one password, and
there is only one opera. Now, it went through many reworkings and
changes (there are 3 versions of the overture that you can easily find
on cd), and perhaps this obseesion with getting it just right is
important?
Kevin
Thornhill
>(again...a bathroom) in order to begin his rehab. Likewise...he
>summons him to the pool room to, in my opinion, peel the
>extraneous layers off of Bill's mysterious journey (what if I
>told you it was all a charade) and leave him with the
>unvarnished
>reality of his actions. His statement that "there was no second
>password" to me is like saying "you have been looking for
>something that is right in front of you...now get over it".
Additionally, Bill asks Victor if he is "playing" (a game of
pool). Victor invites him to play, but Bill declines. Victor
continues a while with this non-game, as I recall, then turns
his attention to the "game" at hand (Bill's transgressions, etc)
which also is a non-game game, but in the guise of being
"serious"...not something that is remotely a game, or childs
play. He moves from "knocking balls around" to knocking Bill's
head around, a head-game, so to speak. He leaves Bill less
enlightened than he was before, though Bill seems to imagine
that he has been given a vital truth.
I don't think he gets "it". "Out of (his) depth" is putting it
mildly.
Thornhill
Darwin
>However, what does Ziegler mean when he says that "There was no
>second password"? Is this Bill's subconscious trying to deal
>with the situation by saying that the second password (i.e. the
>reality of marriage) doesn't matter, doesn't really exist. My
>own theory regarding Ziegler has always been that he is
>representative of Bill's 'Ego' trying to rationalise everything
>by repressing reality so he doesn't have to deal with it -
> "Everything's just fine, life goes on, it never really
>happened" - in other words, he is NOT telling the truth. I
>remember a debate on this discussion group and on the message
>boards about whether Ziegler was lying or not. My own reply was
>that taking EWS, its characters & its situations on a literal
>level was missing the point - the film is about Bill Harford's
>interior life, not the story which is 'happening' to him.
>
>However, it's interesting to look back at the question and
>interpret it differently. Ziegler is lying, or at least hiding
>something - he is shielding Bill from reality, that's the point
>of his existence. If this is true, his comment about the
>password must be wrong in some way - an answer designed to
>protect or reassure Bill by misleading him.
>
>So what was the point of the scene at the party where Bill goes
>upstairs to help Mandy? Like the scene with Bill & Ziegler in
>the billiard room at the end, this was an original creation,
>rather than an adaptation of something from Traumnovelle.
>
I think the scene with Mandy set up a trust between Ziegler and Bill, and
perhaps because Bill saved Ziegler that one time, Ziegler felt obligated to
save Bill by steering him away from the underground rich swinger's club/ritual
(I don't know what else to call it).
"Some call me a rebel; others, a prophet."
Darwin