When "Eyes Wide Shut" ended, the screening room was deathly silent, and only after quite a while did sparse applause break through, which was considered quite rude. After all, if a film aimed at critics didn't receive applause at the end, it could only mean one thing: the film was a disaster, so bad that it left people unwilling to clap.
Of course, the reason there wasn't any applause here was not because the film was terrible. In fact, a few minutes later, once people had had a chance to process what they'd seen, the applause, while not enthusiastic, had picked up quite a bit from the start. This was because the content presented in the film was just too provocative. Nicole's nude scenes and the bodies of the several hookers that followed were within the bounds of the acceptable, but the quasi-religious party in the middle was audacious and shocking.
