Closer DVD > Reviews > Closer - Close to perfection

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Loved it
Story	Satisfactory
Characters / Performances	Outstanding
Special Effects	Standard
How does it compare to similar films?	Outstanding

Advantages:	Powerful, Deep, Brilliatly - made
Disadvantages:	I liked Julia Roberts and Jude Law and now feel dirty

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Simply put you will struggle to find a more perfect film than this. If you like Hobbits or 8-foot Wookies you might prefer Lord of the Rings or Star Wars as cinema, but for what this film is about it achieves everything it sets out to and more. I encourage, insist and if within arm-shot will physically carry you to the cinema, in order to get you to see Closer.

It is fantastic.

I had not expected more than a good story with fine acting performances, which bearing in mind most of the films on offer over the past couple of years, would have still been a great way to spend a Saturday evening. I got all that and way more.

The Story:
There isnt actually anything too sensational about a story based on a four-way love triangle I term a love-oblong. Please feel free to use this term, which I prefer to love-square or love-trapezium.
But what actually happens isnt the attraction of the film. Of course they all get together and all split up. That is what happens. But the film is about how, and why and the message from this.
Forgive me for not remembering character names, normally if I can still remember my wife’s name on the walk home I’m doing well, so I’ll stick to the actors.
We begin with Jude Law and Natalie Portman walking towards each other in a packed street eyeing each other, getting gradually closer. The soundtrack is the magnificent Damien Rice’s The Blowers Daughter, which I’m sure you’ll agree is no bad way to start a movie.
Natalie Portman gets knocked down by a taxi, and Jude Law escorts her to a hospital, where they get to know each other, and it is established that Portman has come to London on an ‘expedition’ although with no direct purpose. Law is a journalist who writes obituaries. He walks her around London, they go on a bus, all the while having a great time. When the time comes to part, Law asks her out and it is clear their relationship starts. She asks if he has a partner, to which he replies ‘yes’.
So far, so simple, and perhaps so uninspiring. In fact any sensible readers will be wondering why this film has garnered such great reviews.
But what you need to understand is the excellence of the portrayal of the story from here and the messages that are presented in a subtle, beautiful way. Julia Roberts (a photographer), and Clive Owen (a dermatologist) are introduced in a serious and amusing way respectively, and the story charts the relationships between the four of them where all partners come together, with the exception of Roberts and Portman. You’ll have to see the movie to see Law and Owen making love, but it is well worth it.
Back with the beginning, and after their meeting, Law goes to walk into his work therefore leaving Portman behind and none of the future events would have happened. He then turns and goes back to her asking her out. Later in the film Portman asks him about his subsequent relationship with Julia Robert’s character, and ‘the moment’ when he made it happen as there is always a time when you can walk away. This is also true of their own relationship and this is clearly ‘the moment’ for Law and Portman. And of course this is true of all relationships, and is displayed for each relationship in this movie.
So the concept of time is introduced. And how brilliantly it is used. Firstly, in the sense of the above, where ‘Carpe Diem’ seems to be the motto of all 4 protagonists. They are not ones to let a moment pass by, or hold their tongue for the sake of keeping things as they are.
Then ‘time’ is used in the sense of the story length. Overall this story covers more than 4 years. However, we are presented with snippets of activity where at some point one of the actors will mention that 3, 4 or 6 months have passed, and things are different. Much as with life.
This is not some Hollywood rubbish where people live 18 years worth of relationships in a week and a half. Where the leading actress’s husband dies and she is re-married with 15 children before the pile of earth on his gravestone is patted down. In Closer time moves on and people move on. As such, it is entirely believable that these are real lives, and the stories true.
Which brings us conveniently to the real defining message of the film – The Truth.
Closer will tell you more about the role and importance of truth in relationships than any number of marriage guidance counsellors, therapists or episodes of Oprah Winfrey you care to find.
Each character is destined to tell the truth no matter what the consequences. In one of the final scenes Law and Portman are in a hotel-room discussing their backgrounds, and as an aside why Law has given up smoking. She asks why he does it, and his response of ‘because I am addicted to it. It eats me up from the inside and destroys me’ (that’s a paraphrase, but sure it’s almost word-for-word) fits both the discussion on his need for the truth and his need for a cigarette.
In the stand-out scene Owen and Roberts throw a verbal barrage at each other the likes of which I’ve not seen in a film before. A glance around the audience showed that every single person had looks of fear, shock, and revulsion. I’ve never known a reaction like it. And all because both characters were telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but.
The way each character does perpetually tell the truth is intensely frustrating. You want them to even tell a white lie just to be happy, but the more they tell the truth, the more they end up hurting each other. However, of course the ultimate irony is that the biggest lie of all means that two of the four end up together even though neither love each other. I wont tell you who, but it isn’t Julia Roberts and Natalie Portman (sorry chaps).
If you are unfortunate enough to be dating a moron, then perhaps he or she will complain that it was predictable and unexciting. In this situation I urge you to tell them the truth that perhaps they should stick to Jerry Bruckheimer films and we can all be happy.

The Director:
As I say it really has been put together brilliantly, and I have added the name of Mike Nichols to my list of favourites. He has had mixed success at the box office, with an eclectic mix of films such as Working Girl, The Remains of The Day, and The Bird Cage. With Closer, Nichols has moved back towards his early work, which was heavily influenced by the French new wave, and inspired him to his greatest success to date ‘The Graduate’. Closer has to be up there with his best work and I can’t wait for his next.

The Cast:
All fantastic. I was one of those who got a little sick of the 'Julia Roberts for President' brigade doing the rounds at the time of Erin Brokovich, but even I had to admit, at no point in Closer did she try to steal the show. She played her character excellently and made the least impact of the four, which was exactly what was required.

Jude Law worries me. I have had a sneaking feeling for a while now, which this film may have confirmed…Jude Law is actually a pretty good actor. It’s a shame as after seeing him in Alfie I wanted to physically harm him and anyone involved in desecrating one of the best and most important films made in the past 50 years. But in this he is good. I am also told by my wife he is tremendously fit in this film, so that’s nice too.

My eyes were slightly more drawn (you may or may not be re-assured to hear) to the lovely Natalie Portman. She works for 3 months in a strip bar and there is a ‘can you see it…oooh there it is, there it is…no too late’ moment, which will haunt single men with pause buttons on their remote controls for many years. As far as her acting goes, once I got over the initial realisation that she was not playing a Princess in a galaxy far far away I really enjoyed an excellent performance from a great actress.

Finally Clive Owen. A funny one this, as for the first half of the film I was appalled by his acting. I felt nauseous at the thought that he is in line to portray James Bond, my hero, once Pierce Brosnan retires. However, once I realised the depth and role he was being asked to play, it was clear that his performance was actually superb, and I am now officially backing him to be the new 007. Hopefully Owen can take him back to the good old days of being the nasty, drunk, gambling bastard he is in the stories.

They are frankly all excellent performances, even better than expected, and not a weak link amongst them.

The soundtrack:
A single song. The Blower's Daughter. Played in the opening and closing scene and thats it. When the images of Portman walking down a street mirror themselves and represents the superb symmetry acheived by Nichols.
Not only that but the tracks a belter.

Conclusion:
3 things.
1. See this film
2. Its brilliant
3. What are still doing behind your computer screens?