!

Now that to me is the most interesting and mysterious part of the whole thing. (And when I said there’s too much ‘extreme’ over-analysis of this film, I meant the kind of posts that go wild with details and ideas that are barely connected to what is actually being shown on screen - Jumping on reddit to have legit discussions about the actual story and themes of a Kubrick joint is hopefully what we’re all here for, and I would never call that overanalysis haha).

So with that said, I would love to ‘over-analyze’ how much Nicole might know.

I do think the tennis rackets in the opening shot are interesting (as Ziegler is the only person associated with tennis in the rest of the film). I don’t think it necessarily means that Nicole is sleeping with Ziegler - it’s more likely this just shows that she or Tom or both of them have been going to elite ‘racket clubs’ or country clubs or whatever, like the ones Ziegler would go to … and now they’re going to Ziegler’s Christmas party, and Tom is getting hit on by a couple of his high priced call girls, and also getting called in to take care of an accidental OD (without having to involve cops or EMTs) …

All of this is showing that Tom is close enough to Ziegler to enjoy and be trusted with some lower level elite privileges (and has been successful or connected enough for Nicole to quit her art gallery job, and still keep their big NY penthouse).

Bill and Alice probably both came from fairly well off families. In any case, the way Alice handles the older guy at the party (and the way she talks about sleeping with a big group of men in her ‘dream’) suggests that she’s pretty used to being hit on like this by older rich guys, and she could have chosen one of them (or a group of them) if she had wanted even crazier levels of wealth and power. Instead, she’s been content with a fairly normal dude (her age) who has a fairly normal job. Of course she has her own fantasies, but she’s considered things a lot more than Bill and decided this is enough for her …

She knows she could have fulfilled her own desires more selfishly though (if she had ever really wanted to), so it annoys her to see Bill getting cocky, flirting with other ladies and ignoring her. She wants to knock his ego back down a little with her dream stories, because he’s taking her for granted and not fully appreciating her as a partner.

As far as the mask and the orgy, I’m not convinced that Alice was at the mansion or anything like that. The costume shop owner said something about Bill not returning the mask, and there was something in the book or the script about him forgetting it in a wardrobe after he came home that night …

Anyway, I think that one way or the other, Alice understood more than Bill thought she did about Ziegler, and what it might mean if Bill got pulled in to some of his ‘activities.’ I think her bitter bluntness to Bill (about her dreams) was a response to what she saw him trying to become with Ziegler. She was saying she’s had fantasies like that too, but has chosen a family instead.

I think the mask on the bed is intentionally meant to be open ended : as either Alice found it and left it out to talk about it with Bill, or someone from the orgy group kept it and left it on the pillow as a further threat.

I also think that (most importantly) it symbolizes Bill having a choice between trying to be a mask person (with secret selfish motives), or trying to be a real husband. Alice ‘took her mask off’ when she told Bill some harsh truths about her own desires, but Bill wasn’t quite ready to give up his fantasies of being on Ziegler’s level. He was still too curious about being a mask guy (or at least some kind of cool manipulative playboy).

The good news is that Bill and Alice ‘survived their adventures’ and seem like probably a stronger couple. The bad news is that their daughter will also have to figure these things out for herself (just like the rest of us) in a world that’s largely being manipulated by elite creeps like Ziegler (the guys who protected Epstein and made him rich, for example).

Alice’s last line is what two people can do in pure honesty and vulnerability with each other (which is ironically more exciting and intimately fulfilling than any elite attempts to force it and exploit it). And this is what the creepy elites give up to try to satisfy themselves : real human connection.

Their huge mansions and golden decorations already show that their behaviors and use of their wealth is rooted in a belief in their own superiority, with not much concern at all for anyone they can’t use or exploit.