When Stanley Kubrick's final film, Eyes Wide Shut, was released in 1999, it was met with a cool reception. Audiences and critics were puzzled by the chilly exploration of a married couple's relationship, played by then-real-life spouses Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. But 26 years later, the film has become a cult favourite among Generation Z, who are linking it to some of the biggest scandals in recent history, including the Jeffrey Epstein case.
According to internet sleuths, the parallels between Eyes Wide Shut and Epstein are obvious. The character Victor Ziegler, played by Sydney Pollack, shares physical traits and mysterious wealth with Epstein, and his central role in a masked orgy attended by powerful people mirrors Epstein's alleged network. Gen Z viewers see the film as a blueprint for Epstein's abhorrent behaviour.
The conspiracy theories go further. Many Gen Zs believe that at the end of the film, the Harfords' daughter Helena is kidnapped by shadowy men from Ziegler's party, a theory bizarrely connected to the 2007 disappearance of Madeleine McCann, who wasn't even born when the film was released. They also suspect Kubrick was killed for revealing too many secrets about the elite, drawing parallels with Epstein's death in prison, which many believe was not a suicide.
So why are Gen Z, who were children or not yet born when Epstein began his rise, so fascinated? Some suggest that the film has a fairytale-like quality, appealing to young audiences who see conspiracies as simple stories hiding darker truths about human nature. In a fractured world, these theories offer a sense of order and hidden knowledge.
