Eyes Wide Shut - Who is Nick Nightingale ?

Analysis and review of Eyes Wide Shut by Stanley Kubrick with a character analysis of Nick Nightingale - the piano player . This is a fair use educational critique and analysis . Hope you like it . My name is Shim - glad to have you here .

[@davegentry-pu9xm]

Nick was a flunky, but he was a connected flunky. I agree with you, he was in on the whole thing. He was probably ordered by Zeigler to entice Bill to go to the Mansion Party. The whole thing thing is smoke and mirrors, but Kubrick gives clues as to what's really going on. And one last note --- it was not too unusual for people to own cell phones in the late 90s if it was work related. I got my first Nokia cell phone in 97' to help me deliver pizza!!! I was so impressed that if I couldn't find the house or if they didn't answer the door I could just call them and see where they were. So it does not strike me as odd that a travelling musician at that time would have a cell phone.

[@kubricktheory237]

thanks for the cell phone info ! 🍕

[@bilbob7624]

the phone is how they eavesdrop on their conversation. Hence the perfectly timed Phone Call

[@worksbydandeprez]

The only question I had at first about this character was the absurd idea that the average jazz club could afford to put up a musician in an expensive hotel for months.

[@watermelonlalala]

I was just thinking, I have never heard any body comment about New York Jazz Clubs and if this one is realistic or not. And I have never seen a jazz musician comment on the Nick character, either.

[@markwrede8878]

Fidelio is the name of Lyndon LaRouche's British publication to which Stanley Kubrick was reportedly a charter subscriber. Nick is recruited as the source to supply the speedball to Amanda Curran.

[@martinsFILMS13]

Fidelio is the name of a Beethoven opera

[@markwrede8878]

@@martinsFILMS13 The story of the opera is male redemption through female sacrifice, so the reference corresponds on multiple levels.

[@MatimoreAgain]

Kubrick has tarot symbolism as well. Here and in The Shining. Nightingale represents The Magician. Like the head interviewer over at The Overlook.

[@kubricktheory237]

@MatimoreAgain interesting, I will definitely look more into that. I feel there's a lot of tarot Symbolism in Eyes Wide Shut too which I might do a video on

[@bilbob7624]

They're testing Bill for membership. so they found Nick, someone from bill's past, to draw him in. Bill fails when he is too persistent then tells his wife everything. now they're going to deal out the "Dire Consequences".

[@kubricktheory237]

You might be right - there's definitely a lot going on . 👍

[@treasonouspigeonpeckers957]

Nihtegale is the original word meaning “night songstress”. What’s even more interesting is how sing nightingales sing at night to attract a mate which plays well with the movie with how Nick never plays again once Hartford is attracted into his nest. The inconstant narrators remind me of Alex from a Clockwork Orange when he pretended to be cured despite suggestive photos in his parents house, he reputation to pretend to be sick to get sympathy with his parents, and how he was hitting around in the bathtub. From singing at night to singing in the rain

[@kubricktheory237]

interesting , thank you 😃

[@Iron-Bridge]

I love the return to a film I would have assumed has been picked apart extensively. Good catch with the easy to miss coincidence meetings between Bill and Nick as well as the cellphone which I didn't pick up at first.

[@kubricktheory237]

Thank you 👍

[@unclebud1]

Nice touch adding the cocktail piano in the background, never got in the way of your "flow."

[@kubricktheory237]

Thanks very much ! 😃

[@40pianos]

Nick's done these parties before. The fact that you don't see his blindfold slip when he's being led past the women doesn't mean it didn't slip in the past; the past he must have been referencing when describing the women to Bill before he'd even left for that evening's party. Also, the 'unreliable narrator' idea is not accurate. In fact, Nick's promise that the women were beautiful was accurate, as was the password. What may be questionable about Nick, is his motive for sharing this information with Bill. Is it possible, given he didn't finish med school, that he was jealous of Bill and the life he enjoyed? That he wanted to lead him into trouble? As for his being forced out of town after being roughed up would comport with his having contrived to allow an uninvited guest attend the exclusive gathering. There's nothing compelling or particularly odd about Nick and his role in the film. He was a device to get Bill to the party, not a key character. And his dubious departure was meant to deprive Bill of the opportunity for an explanation and to increase the growing tension and mystery surrounding the event.

[@Keith-Herron]

great video!

[@kubricktheory237]

Thank you !

[@harryanders2877]

Excellent work. I also have misgivings about this piano guy...So much about this movie is strange... and....cloaked. Maybe that is one of the reasons that it's such a good film.

[@kubricktheory237]

Agreed - thank you . 👍

[@GUTSSOZEs]

Ya didn't show how the DIRECTOR did a cameo behind Nick, dressed almost the same too.

[@isaiahsuarez5228]

Don’t understand why if they were “looking for new members” Red cloak would confront Bill about his entry and who he was.

[@martinsFILMS13]

a lot of people had cell phones in the late 1990's

[@mollykeane2571]

Very interesting - but why would red robe threaten Dr. Bill if they wanted him there?

[@kubricktheory237]

there's some theatricality involved here perhaps but also the cult takes a promise very seriously .

[@mollykeane2571]

​@@kubricktheory237 The whole thing is becoming a puzzle, was that Kubrick’s intention I wonder?

[@rockroll527]

To test him. See how he responds/reacts to stress. Obviously he didn’t cut the mustard as he’s a simple beta cuck type.

[@ecphotographer]

Um… How about this. Nick is a prick as Ziegler declared, who has no social life and ‘THE’ weak link in the chain that briefly exposed this private exclusive cult. He was a drop-out med student and far from his family in Seattle. Now he feels small when seeing a classmate become doctor at the black tie party that he is performing for. Later, he deflects his situation on the band he was playing with, for right or wrong, and then tries to elevate himself by sharing some exciting bits of his professional life. He has no one else to share it with. He doesn’t ‘invite’ Bill, Bill goads him to giving him more details. Nick became genuinely nervous for walking himself into a sticky situation and had no wisdom for where he was and what he was doing. Owning a cell phone in 1999 wasn’t beyond possibility for someone who travels alot (I did) and I wasn’t rich. In fact, it makes sense if he was going to be on call for high paying clients which probably rotate their venues. Next, even though Bill was doing well in NYC, he was still just a GP and there was no need for him to join. He didn’t have a 500 whatever millon dollar mansion in the middle of the Hamptons. Back to Nick, these people don’t care what your last name is when your just a piano player who probably at some point, taught their kid(s) piano. Thats how he probably got ‘connected’, Ziegler asked his butler or secretary, who’s a good piano player, said, “Fine, whatever, call him in for me” and had him play his vanilla soirées for a time. Now, just because Nick’s back was turned to the ceremony in the scene provided, doesn’t necessarily mean it was impossible that it could have slipped at some previous time while walking. Aftward, yes they walked him out like a gentleman, cause they don’t want Nick blood on the beautiful floor and disrupt the other guests. Recruitment? Naah. If they needed a doctor, that could call him anytime without the eccentric details and pay him well enough. The cult lives and breathes with big money and Bill could never be vested in that way. Now, here’s a real question. who was Red Cape in the real world society and how did he come to power? His character and behavior is a huge liability for everyone in that room if he was exposed. A Nick and a Bill could be handled, as they did handle both of them, but the trust they put into Red Cape was extraordinary because he was central to the cult. Oh. I almost forgot. The globe table lamp is Kubrick film signature. The glowing light sources, esp diffused light sources can be seen in all of his movies. The windows in The Shining and Full Metal Jacket, Clockwork Orange, even in the Space Station scenes in 2001. So in this scene, instead of a candle, its a diffused globe. Nothing odd at all and there’s no meaning to it except to evoke a feeling in the portraiture. Stanley was, after all, a photographer turned cinematographer.

[@MatimoreAgain]

👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽 Bravo

[@watermelonlalala]

For analysis, I give you an F, because (almost) all you did was recount what we already know. However, I know many Kubrick fans like to listen to this kind of stuff, the same way kids like to hear a bedtime story again and again. Nick represents Dionysus (disorder) and Bill represents order (Apollo). Dionysus is also the god the cult worships, in their own way. Nick is a rather phallic name, rhyming with Dick, stick, prick and, also, trick and Kubrick. Everything is Nick's fault. Nick will admit it the next time Bill sees him, "It's all my fault." Nick's last name "Nightingale" happens to be rather close to Dorothy of the Wizard of Oz's last name, Gale. Gale = storm, trouble, stormy weather. (What's the name of the baby sitter? Roz, rhymes with Oz.)

[@santaclaus3077]

Nightingale is a bird that sings during the night and day. Singing aka telling Bill a secret. Ziegler was banging Bills wife too.