That is because it was heavy edited by the studio after directors death and no where near the original cut. In original ending they actually give their daughter to the cult so they can be members.
This comment is quite ironic and funny because the enduring interest in this movie is because it’s heavily disputed that the Final Cut is actually close to being Kubrick intended cut.
That’s the whole mythos of the movie and why people like the OP wrote a huge thesis on the themes and motivation behind the movie.
That's not even remotely true. There is enduring interest in this movie because it is fantastic and arguably one of the master's greatest works. There is a renewed interest in it by a certain group of people that think it has anything to do with pizzagate. They are super annoying.
It goes on my list of 'dreamlike' movies, they don't always fully add up consciously but you can feel your unconscious going into overdrive while watching them (or maybe there is a surface plot that mostly adds up, like EWS, but there is clearly something going on at a least one other level). The viewing experience is often downright hypnotic for me.
A few off the top of my head, this is a very personal list and I can't even claim that all these movies are 'good' in any particular sense. Just that they put me into this state:
* basically anything in lynch's cannon. I'm not always the biggest fan of his stuff, but sometimes they hit me hard.
* Cronenberg's Videodrome and it's spiritual sequel Existenz
* Donnie Darko & Southland Tales (objectively just an awful movie)
* Prince of Darkness
* Enter the Void (not for the faint of heart)
* Paprika
* Solaris (the original mostly, there are some qualities in the remake)
* Stalker
* Dark City
* Sorry to Bother You
* The Fountain
* 8 1/2
* The Ninth Gate
* and certainly Eyes Wide Shut
I think mouth of madness maybe makes it. It's isn't always about reality being 'bent' in the fiction of the movie. It's also how the mood of the film contributes. For instance I would not put fight club on this list. I might consider seven. Zodiac has the mood but is missing something... I'm not sure I would put much fincher on the list personally, though I like many of his films.
Not Fincher, but a late edition. I would put PTAs 'Inherent Vice' on the list if I could edit it.
