10 years without Kubrick

On March 7, 1999, Stanley Kubrick died in his Hertfordshire home just after finishing «Eyes Wide Shut».

It's been 10 years since the death of the reclusive American director, who attracted a passionate fan base.

He was meticulous to the point of driving everyone around him crazy with his repetitiveness, his insistence on getting the shot no matter what the conditions, and often making bizarre demands, even post production – such as insisting screens be replaced in movie theatres before his films were shown, as reported by the late Swiss producer and distributor George-Alain Vuille who had to do so for his Geneva theatres for «Barry Lyndon»! – but Stanley Kubrick remains one of the most brilliant filmmakers in the history of the movies.

Despite the fact that Kubrick touched on all kinds of genres, one constant remained: his view of human nature was always pessimistic.

Although some of his movies have not stood the test of time – the heavy kitsch of «A Clockwork Orange», his watered-down censured version of Vladimir Nabokov's «Lolita», his need to try to stuff all the elements of horror and fantasy into «The Shining», considered by Stephen King as the worst adaptation of one of his books, or the prudish pseudo-sexual «Eyes Wide Shut» – others remain classics: «Full Metal Jacket», «Paths of Glory», «Barry Lyndon» and «*2001: A Space Odyssey».