The fuss generated by the release of Eyes Wide Shut, Stanley Kubrick's last film, has stimulated the reissue of the novella Dream Story on which the screenplay is based. Schnitzler (1862-1931) was a Viennese doctor with an interest in psychiatry, so it is not surprising that the cardboard central character of this dull, highly pretentious yarn is a successful but sexually restless medic. His constant state of sexual arousal is shared by his equally self-absorbed, equally cardboard wife, who makes the mistake of sharing with him an erotic dream in which she stars. This causes him to venture out into the night looking for experience - which soon materialises when he meets an old musician friend who earns extra money by performing at questionable gatherings. The sniff of an adventure has our doctor rushing off to hire fancy dress. Archly self-conscious rather than tense or mysterious, never mind erotic, this is little more than a curiously minor study in the insecurity of egoism. Far more interesting is Beatrice and Her Son, in which a young widow still mourning the loss of her famous actor husband is yet again at her usual summer holiday spot with her son. But her boy is no longer a child and may be the prey of an older woman. The strength of this taut story lies in the superb characterisation; Beatrice, who moves from righteousness to guilt, is torn between losing her child and fulfilling her own needs. Despite the melodramatic finale, this novella, reminiscent of Thomas Mann, is the one to read.
