Closer (2004/I)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

Mike Nichols

Writers (WGA):

Patrick Marber (play)
Patrick Marber (screenplay)

Release Date:

3 December 2004 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

If you believe in love at first sight, you never stop looking.

Plot:

The relationships of two couples become complicated and deceitful when the man from one couple meets the woman of the other.

Plot Keywords:

Photographer | Dermatologist | Divorce | Stripper | Obituary

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 8 wins & 20 nominations

Cast

Natalie Portman	...	Alice
Jude Law	...	Dan
Julia Roberts	...	Anna
Clive Owen	...	Larry
Nick Hobbs	...	Taxi Driver
Colin Stinton	...	Customs Officer

MPAA:

Rated R for sequences of graphic sexual dialogue, nudity/sexuality and language.

Runtime:

104 min | Turkey:98 min (TV version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

USA:R (certificate #40116) | Taiwan:R-12 | Iceland:14 (original rating) | Iceland:16 (video rating) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Zurich) | Malaysia:18SX | Ireland:18 | New Zealand:R16 | Philippines:R-13 | Sweden:11 | Argentina:16 | Australia:MA | Brazil:14 | Canada:14A | Chile:14 | Czech Republic:15 | Finland:K-15 | Germany:12 | Hong Kong:IIB | Japan:R-15 | Netherlands:12 | Norway:15 | Portugal:M/16 | Singapore:M18 | South Korea:18 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | Indonesia:Dewasa

Filming Locations:

Cowcross Street, Clerkenwell, London, England, UK

Company:

Icarus Productions

Trivia:

Cate Blanchett was originally signed to play the role of Anna, but due to her second pregnancy she had to drop out of the film.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Alice and Dan are entering the garden at the beginning of the film, a woman in a khaki coat is seen leaving the garden as they enter but in the next shot is nowhere to be seen but is then seen walking away in the following scene.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Alice: Hello, stranger.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The 62nd Annual Golden Globe Awards (2005) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Non v'e piu tempo, anici

Very good

I've been hearing lots of negativity about this movie. I think a lot of people have been shocked, frankly, by the raw and rough nature of the film. Having read the play, I've been looking forward to it for about a year now, and it's honestly one of the best plays I've ever read. Mike Nichols presents it in an amazing way, very faithful to the words as they're written (and they should be, for the movie is also written by the man who wrote the play, the brilliant Patrick Marber).

It's a brutal topic, sex and love, especially when they're combined. I thought the movie was amazing. It captured all of the vulnerability, caustic harshness, and acerbic flirtation that the play vibrated with. All of the cast brought the movie alive. It uplifts and then brings you way down, but that's the point, and yet at the end, I didn't feel depressed or saddened, just really really awake and curious. It's the feeling you get when you get "closer", I suppose.

Natalie Portman, in a tour-de-force performance, is the standout by far. Maybe it's because she's the youngest, and not expected to be that awesome, but she is. Anyways, her Alice is flirty and sweet, caustic and manipulative, evasive and yet very open, sexual and gloomy all in one character. She has the best chemistry with the men - whether it be purely sensual with Clive Owen, or innocence and affection with Jude Law. She comes alive with the two guys, and their scenes are ones to look forward to.

Julia Roberts, whom everyone looks towards, is not bad in this film. She's very understated and good, but she is outshone in nearly every scene by whomever she's acting with.

Clive Owen is absolutely astounding, and he's definitely on everyone's radar screen. As the man of experience and "simplicity", as Jude Law's character comments, he's brash and hotheaded, but also extremely clever. Owen perfectly plays the sleazy, unlikeable character, but somehow manages to appeal to the audience and even though he's a disagreeable character, I think many managed to find something all right about him - Owen's human sense in Larry.

Jude Law is simply very very good; neither astounding nor bad. The only reason he does not stand out is the fact that we've all expected him to do a good performance. And he does, he has a great performance. He and Portman have amazing scenes together, and he's always on par.

Simply put, the movie is not for everyone (especially not for seeing with a parent or young child); it's a mature adult flick, and does not back down from anything. It's high drama - with all the uplifting romance and brutal arguments of relationships. It's a story about people.