Discomforting and unreal, but compelling viewing

Rating: 5/10 (3 October 2005)

I found this one of the most discomforting movies that I have seen for a long time. I revere Mike Nichols who has made some of the very best films of the last forty years. But Closer seemed in an alien style with dialogue and action that was unrealistic (maybe deliberately so) and a plot line that constantly made me want to say WHY? It is a film about lust and love without any actual sex scenes to speak of. That was quite smart of Nichols as it made us concentrate on the action and the screenplay rather than acting as voyeurs. I did not find the scene in the "Mens Club" (or whatever it was) particularly shocking, but what was Alice actually doing there? Played by Natalie Portman she was so delectable that you couldn't really believe that she would pass her days as a pole dancer! Julia Roberts made a reasonably believable photographer and there was some depth in her performance. But she didn't actually look particularly good (sorry Julia)! The key scene of the film is the cyber-sex scene and I frankly found it repulsive. Was it believable that the two male leads (Jude Law and Clive Owen) would get their kicks in this way? Not to me it wasn't, but perhaps I've lived a sheltered life.
Does the film seek to suggest that in the first decade of the 21st Century anything goes as far as relationships are concerned? That you can love (Dan says that he loves Alice) but still prowl and try and make it with someone you fancy within minutes of a meeting(Dan and Anna). I suppose that this may be the way of the modern world, but it is awfully cold and cynical and really loveless.
I rather wish I had not seen Closer for all its technical excellence and even given the pretty good performances by the four leads. It was an unsettling film and it left me confused rather than entertained.