Eyes Wide Open

On the last weekend in June, I headed north to the Hertfordshire town of St Albans, and specifically a small village just outside called Childwickbury. It is here at Childwickbury Manor, to be precise, that Stanley Kubrick lived for the last 20 years of his life. In the years following his death, Kubrick's wife Christiane and daughter Katharina, respected artists in their own right, decided to hold an annual arts fair on the estate, which is why I visited.

I had a wonderful afternoon, observing local arts and crafts people weaving their magic, including Christiane Kubrick as she painted a landscape. I met a delightful actress named Claire Lams, who regaled me with the story of her recent trip to eastern Europe to film Pumpkinhead IV. Katharina Kubrick-Hobbs was also on site, and very approachable. My favourite of her paintings is Sparks, depicting some gaffers on a soundstage catwalk. Katharina told us the painting was derived from some sketches she made in Ireland when she was stills photographer on Barry Lyndon. And yes, it was her father who taught her the art of photography. How lucky for her, to have him for a teacher!

Katharina was very forthcoming with wonderful stories about her father. Most are probably lost to the excess of my summer, but one springs to mind. On one occasion he showed her some rushes from an early scene in Eyes Wide Shut, when Bill and Alice Harford (Tom and Nicole) attend Ziegler's party. Katharina explained that the entire scene was shot using actual fairy lights that appear on-screen (instead of huge spotlights off-screen), which lends the scene a dreamy, golden glow. Stanley was beaming with delight as he showed his daughter this footage; giddily excited with the beauty of what he'd made, as if it were the first thing he'd ever shot. As Katharina told this story, she enthused with the love that the family proudly declare for their most famous member, who was often dismissed by the press as cold, mysogynistic, and burdened with neuroses.

And as for those fairy lights... like many Kubrick props, they remain with the family to this day. Katharina said they have more fairy lights than one could ever need, and were even using some of them to decorate the bar at the arts fair! This ties into another interesting point that she made, that Stanley Kubrick used, and reused, found objects in his life, rather than the more expensive decision to purchase props for a film. Apparently, some of the furniture in Bill and Alice Harford's New York Apartment came from Katharina's home... meaning that for eighteen months her family did not have a sofa!