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Four extremely beautiful people do extremely horrible things to one another inCloser, Mike Nichols' pungent adaptation of Patrick Marber's play that easily marks the Oscar-winning director's best work in years. Anna (Julia Roberts) is a photographer who specializes in portraits of strangers; Dan (Jude Law) is an obituary writer struggling to become a novelist; Alice (Natalie Portman) is an American stripper freshly arrived in London after a bad relationship; and Larry (Clive Owen) is a dermatologist who finds love under the most unlikely of circumstances. When their paths cross it's a dizzying supernova of emotions, as Nichols and Marber adroitly construct various scenes out of their lives that pair them again and again in various permutations of passion, heartbreak, anger, sadness, vengeance, pleading, deception, and most importantly, brutal honesty. It's only until you're more than halfway through the movie that you'll have to ask yourself exactly why you are watching such a beautifully tragic tale, asCloseris basically the ickiest, grossest, most dysfunctional parts of all your past relationships strung together into one movie. Ultimately, it falls to the four actors to draw you deeper into the story; all succeed relatively, but it's Law and Owen whose characters will cut you to the quick. Law proves that yet again he's most adept at playing charming, amoral bastards with manipulative streaks, and Owen is nothing short of brilliant as the character most turned on by the energy inherent in destructive relationships--whether he's on the giving or receiving end.--Mark Englehart
Surprisingly, one of the more disturbing movies I've seen Closer is the kind of film you think about long after you've seen it. Usually, I would call that a blessing but given the bleak message here I'm not sure that's the case. It deals with four people, two men and two women, who are divided into couples but the couples change throughout the film. Jude Law plays Dan, a sweet-talking philanderer. He's the type of guy who couldn't hurt a fly but leaves a trail of destruction wherever he goes. Natalie Portman is his long-suffering girlfriend Alice. Julia Roberts is Anna, a photographer who catches Dan's eye and Clive Owen plays Larry, Ana's dermatologist husband.
The movie isn't about relationships as much is it about the mythology surrounding them. The characters espouse their love for one another while they do terrible things to each other. It isn't until the end of the movie that some of them even realize what love really is. It draws a stark line between love and sex. Sex is selfish and love is giving. Throughout the film, the characters greet each other with the line "hello, stranger." That seems to be the central theme of the movie, no matter how close we think we are, we will always remain strangers. In the end, one of the couples stays together while the other breaks up. The one that stays together does so because they are willing to accept each other, flaws and all.
The film is wonderfully acted and features tight scripting and excellent cinematography shot around London. Get this one if you love good acting and want something to think about, but just don't expect to be in a good mood when it is over.
Amazing movie I was totally wowed by this movie. I poped in my DVD player and was entertained and inrtigued through out the whole movie. The characters are strong, and the cast that is portraying them is excellent. Natalie Portman is AUSOME in this movie, so is Julia Roberts. The diolouge is snappy and unexpected, and the ending is astounding. This is the type of movie that takes you on a ride, and you have no idea where you will end up. I love the gritty, real life feel of the characters, this is it not glossed over. It looks like they used natrual light when filming, so that it gives it a natrual look to it. The only problem that I had this movie was that some of the language was a bit harsh, but not enough to detract from a five star movie!!Extreme Characterizations "Closer" is a film about four people and the role that truth (or different kinds of truth) plays in their relationships as they try to get closer to themselves and to each other. The mixed reaction from viewers is because while "Closer" is a nicely packaged film and a fast-paced intelligent screenplay; the four main characters are "extremes" or at least extreme examples of the behaviors at the allegorical core of the film. These "expressionistically" drawn characters offend and disappoint the viewer segment expecting realistic and sympathetic portrayals (insert "characters with whom they can identify" here).
But they are extreme because they are intended to illustrate (in obvious ways) certain subtle elements of our romantic relationships. The two male characters, Dan (Jude Law) and Larry (Clive Owen), are products of and participants in the most fundamental Darwinian courtship process. Despite making a pretense of having evolved from the competitive courtship of male primates, they are still driven more by the need to win and secure a trophy than by a quest to love. Likewise Anna, the older female (Julia Roberts), is attracted by the male demonstrations of dominance, both the physical bluster of strength and the mental head games intended to manipulate her emotions. Accordingly her behavior encourages these demonstrations by the males.
Contrasted with these three is the younger female (Natalie Portman) who seeks a man who can transcend primitive drives, loving her and allowing her to love him.
Into this mix writer Patrick Marber inserts the truth factor in an ironic way. Portman's character places little value on words, adopting a false name at the beginning of the film. That she is superficially living a lie is ironic because she is the only one of the four who does not lie about their true feelings or engage in self-deception. Her transparency and detached self-awareness is symbolized by her job as a stripper.
The other three torture themselves and each other with superficial truths while engaging in compulsive deception about their actions and actual feelings, to each other and to themselves. Their duplicity is symbolized by their occupations. Dan is an obit writer, skilled in the use of euphemisms to disguise the unflattering characteristics of the deceased. Anna is a photographer, skilled in freezing a single moment in time uncharacteristic of the actual subject she is representing. Larry is a dermatologist focused on the superficial surface that one publicly presents.
The key exchange occurs early in the film as Alice and Dan discuss how essential euphemisms are in his job:
Alice: What would my euphemism be? Dan: She was... disarming. Alice: That's not a euphemism. Dan: Yes, it is.
Alice's up-front and open behavior causes him to let down his guard and feel a higher level of emotion, but his need to make new conquests and to test his attractiveness soon reasserts itself. She is willing to forgive this until finally convinced that he cannot transcend something so much a part of his basic nature. With this realization she falls out of love.
"Closer" is much like "XX/XY" in its exploration of the mysteries of male discontent although it is philosophically deeper and much better written. Coles (Mark Ruffalo) plays the Dan character in that film, but Law's portrayal is more convincing because he does not have to alternate between rebel and wimp, something that Ruffalo could not quite pull off.
All four performances are solid although Roberts is given very little with which to work. Portman is especially good. The problem with "Closer" is that its symbolic message is not getting through to most viewers (at least it would appear so from the many clueless reviews and comments) who try to relate to it on a literal level. But if you like abstract tales deceptively showcased in a realistic package you should really enjoy this fine film.
