Cast: Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Sydney Pollack, Leslie Lowe, Julienne Davis, Madison Eginton, Jackie Sawiris, Todd Field, Leelee Sobieski, Peter Benson, Michael Doven, Sky Dumont, Vinessa Shaw, Louise Taylor, Stewart Thorndike, Randall Paul, Lisa Leone, Kevin Connealy, Marie Richardson, Abigail Good, Rade Sherbedgia, Thomas Gibson, Mariana Hewett, Dan Rollman, Gavin Parry, Chris Pare, Adam Lias, Christian Clarke, Kyle Whitcombe, Gary Goba, Florian Windorfer, Togo Igawa, Eiji Kusuhara, Sam Douglas, Angus MacInnes
Dr. William Harford (Cruise) is a physician with a private practice. He and his wife, Alice, live in a well-appointed Manhattan apartment with their young daughter, Helena (Eginton). Dr. Harford and Alice attend a large and elegant Christmas party thrown by Victor Ziegler (Pollack). The two are greeted by Ziegler, a wealthy lawyer, and become separated as they mingle with the swarming partygoers. Dr. Harford is approached by two beautiful girls and drifts away with them. Alice accepts several drinks and is engaged in conversation by Sandor Szavost (Dumont), a glib and elegant Hungarian. Alice dances with her new acquaintance, her husband nowhere to be seen. Dr. Harford meets a man he knew when they were medical students, Nick Nightingale (Field). Nick never graduated and works as a piano player. He is with the band at the party. As Szavost tries to seduce Alice, Dr. Harford is summoned by Ziegler. Dr. Harford examines Amanda Curran (Davis), who has passed out, nude, in Ziegler’s personal bath. Dr. Harford revives the beautiful girl, and staying with her until he’s sure she is recovered, he tells her she must stop taking drugs. Ziegler, fearing scandal, asks Dr. Harford not to talk about the episode to anyone. The next night, a conversation between Dr. Harford and his wife drifts into talk of sex and infidelity. Alice tells him about a fantasy she had about sex with a dashing naval officer (Goba) she saw once in the past. Remembering the girls her husband was with at Ziegler’s party, she chastises him for not admitting to his own sexual fantasies. During a house call, Dr. Harford is approached by Marion Nathanson (Richardson), the patient’s daughter, who tells him that she needs him and is deeply in love with him. He good-naturedly declines Marion’s advances, thinking her distraught over her father’s death. Bothered by his wife’s teasing tale of sexual fantasy, Dr. Harford walks the streets of New York. A young woman, Domino (Shaw), propositions him, and he hesitantly agrees, but their tryst is interrupted. He leaves her after a brief kiss. Dr. Harford walks by the Sonata Club, where Nick Nightingale plays the piano. He decides to go inside and has a talk with Nick. His friend tells him that he has a gig to play at an exclusive gathering of sex revelers later that night. Intrigued, Dr. Harford presses Nick for details and learns those invited wear masks, and hooded black robes. Reluctantly, Nick reveals the party’s location and secret password, Fidelio. Leaving the Sonata Club late at night, Dr. Harford goes to a costume shop and manages to get the owner, Mr. Milich (Sherbedgia), to let him in and agree to rent him the necessary costume. They find Milich’s teenage daughter (Sobieski) fooling around with two Japanese men. Milich threatens to call the police, but goes ahead and gets Dr. Harford his outfit. After a long taxicab ride, Dr. Harford arrives at a secluded mansion on Long Island and uses the secret password to gain access to the party. The participants wear masks and elaborate costumes. Some stand about talking, while others engage in a range of sexual acts. A beautiful woman takes Dr. Harford’s hand and leads him through ornate rooms. She tells him that his life is in danger and that he must leave at once. Fascinated by what he sees, Dr. Harford dallies, and soon finds that the woman’s warning is real and that he is in well over his head. He must find a way out, an end of what turns out to be a dazzling but tortuous journey of the mind. Based on Arthur Schnitzler’s 1926 novella Traumnovelle.
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