Closer (USA) (Sony) (2004) ****Year: 2004iMDB
Director: Mike Nichols Cast: Natalie Portman, Jude Law, Julia Roberts, Clive Owen
I am not the only one to say that Closer is Mike Nichols' 2004 version of his first major movie: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. Of course, the two movies are adaptations of plays written by different writers (Patrick Marber for Closer) so the comparison is a bit forced.
However, Closer is, similar to the 1967 classic, a very intelligent, brutally honest, dialogue driven dissection of relationships, love and fidelity. Why being loved is not enough and we keep looking at the risk of losing everything we have, why do we hurt the ones we love, why some never give up, why do others give up, how important is sex, what is the meaning of fidelity? All these and many others are questions that Closer raises. The movie doesn't offer any answers. In fact it doesn't even openly ask the questions. But we get to follow four characters who make each other happy and miserable, who all try to be good persons, to be happy and to make the other happy, but they all fail in one way or another. None of the four characters is easy to sympathise with. In fact, they all are either despicable or pityful at times. Yet they are all genuine and it is not hard to recognize that, as shocking as it may seem, they are quite representative of the modern metropolitan social life.
Posted by TheCasualCritic on January 11, 2005 06:04 PM | TrackBackWell, I finally saw this movie after sitting on it for quite a long time. I somehow knew it would be a difficult one for me to sit through, from reading reviews and such, and indeed it was (it actually took me 3 evenings to watch it bit by bit).
(possible spoilers below)
If I were to sum this movie up, it's about unhappiness due to a lack of love, and distrust of love and of other people. Daniel in particular can't trust anyone, and therefore cannot find happiness. Anna basically chooses the safer man, who may not make her totally happy but will not cause her deep unhappiness (perhaps). "Alice" may be the one who escapes to find happiness elsewhere, yet she's been hiding all along behind another name...
A difficult and very adult movie, albeit about some very immature adults.