| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| Movie Name | Closer (2004) |
| Director | Mike Nichols |
| Writer | Patrick Marber (based on his award-winning play “Closer”) |
| Lead Actor | Cast is ensemble — no single lead |
| Cast | Julia Roberts, Jude Law, Natalie Portman, Clive Owen |
| Genre | Drama, Romance |
| Release Date | December 3, 2004 (USA) |
| Duration | 1 hour 44 minutes |
| Budget | Approx. $27 million |
| Language | English |
| IMDb Rating | 6.9/10 |
WATCH NOW
Based on the hit play of the same name by Patrick Marber (who also wrote the screenplay), Closer is a four person character study set in contemporary London Dan (Jude Law) writes obituaries because he can’t find his voice, Alice (Natalie Portman) is an American stripper seeking a geographical cure for adulthood; Anna (Julia Roberts), the photographer, captures intimate moments with absolute strangers, Larry (Clive Owen) is a dermatologist, as bland as he sounds.
Closer is a bit of a highlight reel more, actually, of a lowlight reel of relationships beginning and ending. Dan gets together with Alice, while simultaneously having an affair with Anna, who, in the meantime, has begun a relationship with Larry. Over the course of two years, these characters love, loathe, and betray each other (maybe not so much in the love department), with Dan and Larry at various points vying for each of the women and trying to hurt one another as much as, or more than, their respective partners.
Forget the good, Closer’s main focus is on the bad and the ugly. Through dialogue, without much action or even blocking, the movie captures the intimate moments most people don’t want to admit to having the neediness, horniness, angriness, crassness, rudeness; the words we say ostensibly to make our partner feel good (or bad), but which really we say just to make the other person stay (or leave), the jabs we pull, either passive aggressively or oh so consciously, and the primal lashing out when our security is threatened.
Closer may or may not wind up as a box office hit, though its place on awards nomination lists seems ensured. It is comprised entirely of two person scenes, each taking place in a single location. The scenes aren’t altogether linear, nor do we get any indication of how much time has passed from one scene to the next. The only real problem is that occasionally it feels a little staged the script is more suited to the stage than the screen, though the content lends itself to the intimacy of film. In any case, it is absolutely captivating.
Director Mike Nichols is a genius, an actor’s director who has the rare cache of being respected in Hollywood as much as on Broadway. Visually, Closer is the opposite of his last project, HBO’s six-hour adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize winning Angels in America, yet both projects cut to the core of human relationships. Nichols is a bit of a specialist in that area, having already indelibly marked two generations with movies like Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Carnal Knowledge.
The cast is this quartet and only this quartet. Individually and collectively, their performances are breathtaking. The entire film is set at a fever pitch, emotionally, and there are no supporting players to share the load. Not many people could pull off that feat, and Closer is a feather in the cap of credibility for all four cast members.
Owen and Law have both established themselves as talented actors, so the two women are the ones who benefit most from this credulity. Roberts, whose box-office draw has traditionally been her name more than her talent, completely lives up to the high standard set by her cast mates. When she lets loose a venomous monologue of sexual acts, spat at her husband like so many daggers, there isn’t a trace of America’s Sweetheart. Anna is what Virginia Woolf’s Martha (Elizabeth Taylor) might have been before all the booze.
Portman has received the most press, ostensibly because this is supposedly her coming of age as an adult actress role. At 23, she responded that she doesn’t quite feel like an adult, and that’s appropriate: Alice isn’t much of an adult, either. But the young actress handles the role exceptionally well, vacillating between manipulative and mature, trying on different sexual and relational personae and seeing what fits, without really caring who gets hurt in the process. You’ve probably already read quite a bit about the stripping scenes, but the most remarkable aspect of them is Nichols’ ability not to actually show anything explicitly, while simultaneously creating an almost uncomfortable sense of voyeurism in the audience.
If Closer reminds you of sex, lies and videotape, it’s not a coincidence. Steven Soderbergh acknowledged that his acclaimed directorial debut was largely inspired by Nichols’ Carnal Knowledge. In that same vein, the film is distinctly male in its perspective, focusing on sexual jealousy to the near exclusion of the women’s reactions to the emotional betrayals.
The music throughout is exceptional, most notably so during the film’s most comic scene, when Dan, pretending to be Anna, lures Larry into a cybersex encounter. Nichols’ choice to go primarily with classical music works well against this backdrop, the beautiful music only brings the ugly behavior into sharper relief.
To watch more movies like Closer (2004) visit Fmovies.
Also watch