Closer (film)
From Open Encyclopedia
| Closer | |
|---|---|
| Image:Closer movie poster.jpg {{{caption|}}} | |
| Directed by | Mike Nichols |
| Produced by | |
| Written by | Patrick Marber |
| Starring | Natalie Portman, Jude Law, Julia Roberts, Clive Owen |
| Music by | |
| Cinematography | {{{cinematography}}} |
| Editing by | {{{editing}}} |
| Distributed by | Sony Pictures Entertainment |
| Released | December 3 2004 (USA) |
| Running time | 98 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | |
| Preceded by | {{{preceded_by}}} |
| Followed by | {{{followed_by}}} |
| IMDb profile | |
| {{{footnotes|}}} | |
Closer is a 2004 film directed by Mike Nichols and written by Patrick Marber, who wrote the play of the same name upon which the film is based. It stars Julia Roberts, Clive Owen, Natalie Portman, and Jude Law in a story involving infidelity, intimacy and sacrifice. The movie features many extracts from the Mozart's opera Così fan tutte as incidental music.
Portman was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance, and Owen was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
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Synopsis
In the opening scene, Alice (Portman) and Dan (Law) see each other for the first time from opposite sides of a street, as they are walking towards each other amongst many other rush hour pedestrians. Alice is a young American stripper who just arrived in London, while Dan is an unsuccessful British author who is on his way to work, where he writes obituaries for a newspaper. Alice looks in the wrong direction as she is crossing the street and is hit by a taxi cab right in front of Dan's eyes. Coming to a few seconds later, she smiles and says to him, "Hello, stranger." He takes her to hospital and afterwards, on the way to his office, they stop by a cemetery that he and his father visited after his mother's death. Pausing in front of the office before he leaves her and goes to work, he asks her for her name and she tells him her name is Alice Ayres. They soon become lovers.
A year later, though the two are in a relationship, Dan is straying. He has written a novel based on Alice's life and while being photographed to publicize it, he flirts with the American photographer, Anna (Roberts). Despite finding out that Dan and Alice are in a relationship, Anna shares a kiss with Dan before Alice arrives. Later, Alice overhears them talking about it, and asks Dan to be left alone with Anna so that she may have her portrait taken as well. While being photographed, she reveals to Anna that she overheard them, and is photographed weeping. Alice does not reveal what she overheard to Dan, even as he spends a year stalking Anna, who resists.
A year later, Dan enters an Internet cybersex chat room and randomly meets Larry (Owen), a British dermatologist. With Anna still on his mind, Dan pretends to be her, and using the pretense that they will be having sex, Dan convinces Larry to meet at the aquarium (where Anna told Dan she often went). Larry goes to the meeting place, only to be made a fool of. Anna tells Larry that a man who had pursued her, Dan, was most likely to blame for the setup. Soon, Anna and Larry become a couple and they refer to Dan as "Cupid" from then on.
Another year later, at Anna's photo exhibition, Larry meets Alice, whom he recognizes from the tearful photograph that is one of many being exhibited. Larry knows that Alice and Dan are a couple, from talking to Anna. Meanwhile, Dan convinces Anna to become involved with him. They begin cheating on their respective lovers for a year, even though Anna and Larry become married halfway through the year. Eventually Anna and Dan each confess the affair to their respective partners, leaving their relationships for one another. Alice goes back to being a stripper, heartbroken by her loss. One day, Larry runs into her at the stripclub and is convinced that she is the woman he met before. He asks her if her name is Alice, but no matter how much money he gives her, she keeps telling him her name is "Jane Jones". Frustrated, he tells her to continue dancing for him and they possibly have a one-night stand.
Eventually, Larry convinces Anna to see him one last time; she agrees to sleep with him, so that he will sign divorce papers and leave her alone. Anna tells Dan about it, who takes it badly. Anna returns to Larry. Distraught, Dan confronts Larry to try and get Anna back. Instead, Larry tells him Alice's whereabouts, and instructs him to go to her. However, out of malice, he also tells him about his night with her. Alice takes Dan back, but when Dan confronts her after she doesn't tell him about her night with Larry, she leaves him, saying, "I would have loved you forever." In the end, Alice returns to New York, abandoning the failed relationships she found in London. Passing through the immigration checkpoint on her way back into the United States, it is revealed through a shot of her passport that her real name is Jane Jones, and that she had lied about her name for the duration of her four-year relationship with Dan. Visiting the cemetery, Dan notices the name "Alice Ayres" on a plaque that is dedicated to a girl who sacrificed herself to save three children, and realizes what "Alice" had done.
Analysis
The film is sparse in action and heavy on dialogue, likely because it is based on a stage play. Almost all of the dialogue comes from the four main characters. The film was billed as a romantic drama and, though a success, it took many people aback because of its explicit sexual dialogue. Characters frankly and aggressively discuss sex acts with one another; notably the internet-exchange between Dan and Larry (with Dan posing as Anna) contains unusually graphic descriptions of sex acts.
The original play had a questioning title: "What's so great about the truth? The truth hurts people, try lying for a change. It's the currency of the world." Throughout the film, the only character who stays honest is Alice. She is the only one who acts on genuine love, and is the only one who does not cheat on anyone or lie to them, save the pseudonym. The pseudonym reveals the irony of the scene in the strip club, where Larry demands her real name: she's telling it to him, but he doesn't believe her.
One clear point the movie makes is about "moments" when a relationship can change, especially when people can give in to their desires. For example, Dan and Anna give in to the moment during the photoshoot, while Alice and Larry are tempted, but do nothing, during the exhibition. This is driven home in the final scene, where after his confrontation with Alice, Dan quickly returns to try and rectify his mistake, only to discover he's too late: "I don't love you anymore. Goodbye."
Trivia
- Tagline: If you believe in love at first sight, you never stop looking.
- Owen starred in the play as "Dan", the role assumed by Law in the film.
- Natalie Portman reportedly shot full-frontal nude scenes for when her character is stripping for Clive Owen's character, Larry. However she and the director, Mike Nichols, decided to cut these shots out of the film. This is possibly, however, another instance of the kind of viral marketing such as that involving the nudity of Anne Hathaway in Havoc.
External links
bs:Bliže de:Hautnah fr:Entre adultes consentants it:Closer lb:Closer pt:Closer sk:Na dotyk sv:Closer (film)
