Director: Mike Nichols
Writer: Patrick Marber (Screenplay)
Starring: Julia Roberts, Jude Law, Natalie Portman, Clive Owen
Plot: The relationships of two couples become complicated and deceitful when the man from one couple meets the woman of the other.
Tagline – If you believe in love at first sight, you never stop looking.
Runtime: 1 Hour 44 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Simple Play Movie
Story: Closer starts as we meet journalist Dan (Law) as he meets American tourist Alice (Portman) and starts a relationship, with his book about to be released he is having a photo shoot with Anna (Roberts) as he wants to start seeing her, his joke ends up setting her up with doctor Larry (Owen) and the two continue their affair even after Anna and Larry get married.
As the truth emerges, we see how the four parties must deal with the consequences of their action with the two victims needing to learn to move on, while the cheaters try to end things in a smart way.
Thoughts on Closer
Characters – Anna is a photographer that meets Dan at a shoot for his new book, she ends up being put in the middle of a game by Dan which leads her to her next husband, only she continues her affair with Dan even after getting married. Dan is a journalist who works for the paper while trying to get his book published, he meets Alice crossing a street which starts their relationship, only he falls for Anna and continues to see her even after his book fails. Alice is the young American the meets Dan, she works as a waitress making ends meet until she needs to turn to stripping. Larry is a doctor that gets played into a game with Anna becoming his new wife, he is the victim of her affair, but his aggressive nature puts him back into the game.
Performances – We have four of the best actors in the business here with Julia Roberts, Jude Law, Natalie Portman and Clive Owen all giving us good performances through the film, they do what they can do with unlikeable characters.
Story – The story follows four people whose relationships cross paths as they must decide whether they love each other or won’t stay loyal to each other. The story telling process is poor because we jump through times to different stages of the relationships, we get short mentions of the time jump though it only becomes confusing at times. The story focuses on how fickle people can be in relationships and when people get hurt, they will do things to get revenge, it doesn’t paint any of the characters to be good redeemable people and that they are better being away from each other.
Romance – The romance in the film comes from showing us just what happens when love can go wrong and puts people in the place they don’t want to be, rather than happiness that we are often made to believe.
Settings – The film is set in London showing how the lives of these people can cross paths, each location will at some point show the working environment for the characters.
Scene of the Movie – Taxi opening.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – None of the characters seem like nice people.
Final Thoughts – This is a study of relationships and how easily they can go from the best moments to the worst, it doesn’t become the most interesting thing to watch with it being a lot of discussion about how people are feeling over being wronged.
Overall: Relationship study.
Rating
