It is adapted from the Jewish author Arthur Schnitzler and directed by Stanley Kubrick, who was also Jewish. The 1999 film Eyes Wide Shut has been increasingly co-opted by conspiracy theorists to spread antisemitic tropes, as the film focuses on a secret society of powerful elites.
While the film does not explicitly mention Jewish people, the narrative of a secretive, "globalist," and predatory elite controlling society is frequently interpreted as a whistle for Jewish people. The film is used by QAnon to suggest that Hollywood and world elites are engaged in elite satanic abuse, which is a key component of the antisemitic "global cabal" conspiracy.
Conspiracy theorists often interpret the ritual scene as a literal representation of satanic, child-eating, and "adrenochrome-harvesting" elites. This aligns with modern mutations of the ancient "blood libel" myth—a classic antisemitic trope blaming Jews for the ritual murder of children. Even the character of Victor Ziegler is seen as embodying antisemitic stereotypes of the super rich, sexually depraved, debauched, corrupt operator.
The music featured in the ritual scene is sung in Romanian, although ill-intentioned theorists swear it is in Aramaic. The liturgy was originally recorded in a church in Baia Mare, Romania. The track, titled "Masked Ball," was composed by Jocelyn Pook and uses recordings of a Romanian Orthodox liturgy played backward.
Stanley Kubrick chose to play the recording backward to create a sound that seemed simultaneously sacred and disturbing, , without knowing that he was giving antisemites grounds to argue that the language used is Aramaic, which they have never heard nor know at all. Besides, the literal translation of the verses, when sung in the correct order, is beautiful and Christian: "And God said to his apprentices... I give you a commandment: pray to the Lord for mercy, life, peace, health and salvation...
