Eyes Wide Shut ending explained: What happens between Bill and Alice?

In the ending of Eyes Wide Shut, what happens between Bill and Alice?

Well, towards the end of Bill's entire encounter with the secret society, he comes back home to his wife Alice and tells her everything. She is seen sleeping, but here is the twist. The mask that Bill had lost at the ritualistic o*gy of the secret society was lying on his pillow.

The last film by the legendary filmmaker Stanley Kubrick, Eyes Wide Shut had made a posthumous release in 1999, post the death of the helmer. It is indirectly derived on Arthur Schnitzler's novella Dream Story (1926). The film stars Nicole Kidman, Tom Cruise, Sydney Pollack, Marie Richardson, and many others.

So coming back to the ending, what happens between Bill and Alice? And how did the mask land up there? Let's find it out about this particular ending of Eyes Wide Shut.

Disclaimer: This article contains major spoilers of the film. Reader discretion is advised.

Eyes Wide Shut ending explained: What happens between Bill and Alice?

In the ending of Eyes Wide Shut, Bill comes back to his home and finds his Alice sleeping. Beside her lies the mask that Bill had misplaced at the o*gy of the secret society. The reason of the mask's presence has not been revealed in the film. There could be possible reasons, as per multiple theories that have been speculated since years.

Either the mask was a fragment of Bill's imagination due to his guilty conscience of attempting to cheat on his wife, or it could be the work of the secret society people who could have put it there. Otherwise, Alice might have known the truth about it and she herself has kept the mask so that Bill reveals the truth himself.

Bill then discloses everything to Alice, and he ends up crying. He feels guilty of attempting to sabotage his marriage, driven by jealousy and ignorance. He has been in a self-abnegation stage where he was not acknowledging the truth about his and his wife's yearnings.

In the following day, Bill, Alice and Helena go out for some Christmas purchasing. Bill then expresses regret about his actions to Alice, to which Alice responds that they need to make some steps to fix it. When Bill asks more about it to her, Alice replies by saying: "F*ck".

What has led Bill to all these chaos in Eyes Wide Shut?

A still from 'Eyes Wide Shut' | Image via @Youtube/RottenTomatoesClassicTrailers

Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut follows the plot of Bill and Alice, a married couple, whose marriage is at the brink of sabotage due to Bill's insecurity and ego in regards to the perception of his own fragile sense of masculinity.

Bill, a.k.a. William Bill Harford is a doctor who lives with his wife Alice, and their daughter Helena. The couple attends a party thrown by Victor Zieglar, one of the patients of Bill. The couple meets with plenty of flirtatious interactions throughout the party. Bill also aids a woman named Mandy in an emergency situation of overdose in the party as well.

Post the party, Alice and Bill, over a smoking up session, end up discussing about their s*xual fantasies and desires. Upon which, Alice reveals about her fantasies regarding a Naval officer. She even reveals about the depth of her fantasty, where she could even abandon Bill and Helena. Ofcourse, she did not act in accordance with it.

However, Bill's world gets shook upon hearing his wife's desires, the person whom he thought to be submissive. In the due course of the film, Bill, brimming with feelings of jealousy, goes out there to commit infidelity to Alice. In the process, he encounters Domino, a s*x worker, but nothing happens between Bill and Domino.

He then comes across a secret society with the help of Nick, and several disturbing incidents follow. The secret society engages in odd, ritualistic acts of er*ticism and o*gy where people wear masks. Meanwhile at home, Bill witnesses a sleeping Alice laughing whilst dreaming about the officer and a couple of men, which ignites Bill's envy far more.

He goes back to the secret society building. As Bill is not a member of the group, he is brutally alerted by them to not speak a word about their existence to the outside world, before they let him out due to the help of a masked woman. Bill even attempts to reconnect with Domino, and then he comes to know that she has contracted with HIV/AIDS. After all these fiasco, Bill comes back home to his wife and reveals everything to her.