Closer [Blu-ray]
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 05/22/2007 Run time: 94 minutes Rating: PgFour extremely beautiful people do extremely horrible things to one another in Closer, 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, as Closer is 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
User Ratings and Reviews
4 Stars 3 stars out of 4
The Bottom Line:
Though the movie sometimes suffers from too-quick jumps in time and the fact that the main characters are universally despicable, it is still worth watching due to the high caliber of the acting and writing.
5 Stars Hello, Stranger
Closer is another great film from director Mike Nichols. It is like a postcard from the edge, full of carnal knowledge, unafraid of Virginia Woolf, avoiding any Catch 22’s, and the graduate cum laude of the school of hard knocks. Screenplay and the Play it was based on were both written by Patrick Marber, who also wrote the Screenplay for Notes on a Scandal.
It is a tremendous showcase for the acting talent of the four main characters played by Jude Law, Julia Roberts, Clive Owen, and Natalie Portman. One is a writer, mostly of obituaries–though he does write one book based on a stripper he meets when she is struck by the cab he’s riding in. He falls in love with her instantly, but not deep enough to resist falling for the photographer who later shoots his photo for the book jacket. Then, after a session of cybersex where he pretends to be a woman, he inadvertently engineers the meeting of a dermatologist with his photographer lover.
Infidelity and the resulting jealousy are the themes of Closer, along with the related themes of truth and identity. For instance, Alice Ayres, the stripper portrayed by Portman, uses the name of Jane while working. The dermatologist, played by Clive Owen, knows her as Alice, and he tries to get her to call herself that, to reach that level of intimacy–though she is performing a fantasy for him.
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Larry: There’s a girl out there who calls herself Venus, what’s her real name?
Alice: Pluto.
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But what is Alice’s real name? Don’t assume you know the answer to that question. This scene was of interest to me because I noticed that throughout the director would often use music, but coming from another room, slightly muffled. How Soon is Now? by The Smiths, a veritable anthem of loneliness, is heard here, but they are in a private room, the Paradise Suite, and though the song speaks to the dermatologist’s yearning to be closer, it is muted and subdued.
There is another scene at the opera that is played out entirely in the corridors, bar, and foyers. You never hear the opera directly, though it is Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte, with Rene Fleming, no less. Another subtle comment on the theme of Closer, for the title, Così fan tutte, literally means “Thus do all [women]” often roughly translated as “Women are like that”. Mozart and his lyricist Da Ponte took as a theme “fiancée swapping” which dates back to the 13th century, with notable earlier versions being those of Boccaccio’s Decameron and Shakespeare’s play Cymbeline. Elements from the myth of Procris as found in Ovid’s Metamorphoses are also present. Furthermore, it incorporates elements of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew. Thus, it is a fitting soundtrack for this scene in Closer where the obituary writer realizes that the photographer has just cheated on him with her now ex husband, the dermatologist. Yet, you never see the opera directly, and only hear it indirectly.
As well as unheard music the director also makes use of unseen scenes. Sometimes you see two people meet, and then suddenly it is a year later. He leaves all the things that happen in a relationship between the times they fall in love and out of love out of it. He cuts to the chase, as it were. Though you might expect a film of this sort to be hard to follow, it is to the credit of the director that this is never the case. No matter how convoluted the intertwining relationships, you always know who is in or out of love, cheating, cheated on, or what have you. At least you know enough to follow the story, given the high level of ambiguity the characters have about their own real feelings.
Patrick Marber, the writer, really makes the most of his material. Really fantastic dialogue, or is it the brilliant acting that makes this shine? Both, actually. There is a scene where Jude Law is flirting with Julia Roberts. It is like a championship tennis match. Law serves his best lines and Roberts slams them right back at him. Bam. Bam. Bam. Match point. When did Julia get to be such a great actress? I used to think she just fell back on her Julia Roberts smile a bit too much. All the acting is of the highest calibre, as is the writing and directing.
Here is a little sample of the obituary writer describing how they use euphemisms in their line of work:
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Dan: At six, we stand round the computer and look at the next day’s page, make final changes, add a few euphemisms for our own amusement.
Alice: Such as?
Dan: “He was a convivial fellow” - meaning he was an alcoholic. “He valued his privacy” - gay. “He enjoyed his privacy” - raging queen.
Alice: What would my euphemism be?
Dan: She was… disarming.
Alice: That’s not a euphemism.
Dan: Yes, it is.
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DIRECTED BY MIKE NICHOLS
Charlie Wilson’s War (2007) (with Julia Roberts as Joanne Herring)
Postcards from the Edge (1990)
Carnal Knowledge (1971)
Catch-22 (1970)
The Graduate (1967)
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
OTHER ROLES FROM THE CAST OF CLOSER
My Blueberry Nights (2007) …. Jude Law was Jeremy & Natalie Portman was Leslie
Sin City (2005) …. Clive Owen was Dwight
V for Vendetta (Widescreen Edition) (2005) …. Natalie Portman was Evey
Cold Mountain (Two-Disc Collector’s Edition) (2003) …. Jude Law was Inman & Natalie Portman was Sara
The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) …. Jude Law was Dickie Greenleaf
… aka The Mysterious Yearning Secretive Sad Lonely Troubled Confused Loving Musical Gifted Intelligent Beautiful Tender Sensitive Haunted Passionate Talented Mr. Ripley (complete title)
Bent (1997) …. Jude Law was a Stormtrooper and Clive Owen was Max
Beautiful Girls (1996) …. Natalie Portman was Marty
Mystic Pizza (1988) …. Julia Roberts was Daisy Arujo
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Alice: I don’t love you anymore. Goodbye.
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3 Stars Like watching a train wreck
Three out of the four people are really unlikable. Alice (Jane) is the most fragile and likable and the one who comes out in one piece.
The others are truly sick people (well Anna is more normal than the rest although not by much). No one sticks with their partner very long (except poor Alice/Jane).
Appalling is a better word for this movie; however, I was unable to look away and I think this movie will stick with me for a long time. I came away with my own thoughts on relationships: difficult, bitter, demanding and ugly at times. What a depressing afterthought after watching a movie.
It’s worth watching if you don’t mind vulgar and very sexual situations. If those offend you, don’t watch. No way of skipping past them.
5 Stars Farther
I loved this movie, and the underlying dichotomy of honesty and hatred/ lying and love.
“Lying is the most fun a girl can have without taking her clothes off.” This statement made by the character Alyce seems a fair film thesis; the characters all lose when they bare their real feelings or ’selves.’
It is much easier to be true under a pseudonym. In the film, this philosophy applies to personal relationships as well as on a stripper stage or Internet forum.
Truth hurts and here it’s used as a weapon or sadomasochism tool.
My opinion is that the film offers a refreshing view of raw human nature.
4 Stars It’s good
Having been cheated on, this movie disturbed me…but hey, that’s my problem. Otherwise, it’s a good film. All actors do a fine job.
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