One of the year's best, a must-see, entertaining and harrowing

Rating: 8/10 (24 January 2005)

"Closer" is a character study looking closely  like through a magnifying glass  at the dishonesty of human nature. Its only four characters are real. These are people. Adjectives like "convincing" or "believable" aren't applicable here because they are irrelevant...whether these are actors or not, "Closer" is a look at a few years in the lives of four very real people. They are four fierce, empathy-less, angry, sad, charming, and sometimes even sick people, but they are still people, and not mere characters in a movie. When the film ends their problems are not solved, their lives will still continue the way it does through the film, because it is a film on life, and life doesn't end until death, and this isn't about the people's deaths.
Dan (Jude Law) is a pretty bad-boy wannabe English writer who goes through his days pretending to have a dark side. Anna (Julia Roberts) is a classy photographer who takes seemingly artistic photos of strangers that look personal but only hide the fact that they are, indeed, strangers. Alice (Natalie Portman) is a dark free spirit who is both cynical and naive. Larry (Clive Owen) is a dermatologist who fuses an innocent boyish charm with fierce anger and hatred for other human beings. All four can be nasty, or lovable. They have traits. People.
Dan meets Alice on the street. They engage in a flirtation, speaking about themselves, attracted. They become partners, live together for a year or so, Dan writes a book based on her. They appear to be in love, but really it is about how they each meet the other's required needs.
Then Dan finds someone who will meet his needs more sufficiently. Anna, the photographer, taking his picture for the jacket of his book. Anna likes him, but doesn't want to be a "thief". Still, she gives in and can't help but kiss him. She thinks to remain strong, though, and rejects him.
Retaliating to the rejection, Dan signs onto a dirty internet chat room, posing as Anna, and sets up a meeting with Larry. Larry comes to the London aquarium Anna so often visits, and finds the real Anna there. He sits down beside her and immediately sets off a bunch of piggish, chauvinistic sexual comments. She's put off by him, but not as much as she should be, and when they both realize his dilemma she instantly forgives him. They go for a walk. Larry's gears switch instantly from obnoxious pervert to boyish charmer, and we, along with Anna, start to like him.
And so the movie is set up, and things happen from here on in, not as predictable as you might think. The four characters interact, sometimes one-on-one, sometimes in threesomes, never all four at once. The movie has that 'play feel'. Sometimes that feel doesn't work ("Mister Roberts" for example) but sometimes it works perfectly. The latter applies here. We feel like we have stepped into the peoples' lives, the same feeling we usually get from a good play.
The screenplay was adapted by Patrick Marber from his own play, and it is directed by Mike Nichols. These two really know how to set up a movie. An Oscar for both of them would be an understatement. All of the aspects  mostly acting and writing  piece together to make the perfect tone for the film. Everything justfits. The film editing is commendable too, like a scene where both couples are breaking up, and it inter-cuts between them. Another brilliant move was to save Jude Law and Clive Owen's meeting until a climactic later scene, because these two are the driving chauvinist males of the movie, and anything less significant wouldn't do them justice.
This is an ensemble piece. Not in the usual "ensemble piece" way  meaning that there are many famous faces jammed in the same shot  but meaning that all of the cast (which here is only four) play off each other perfectly. There is romantic, angry, sexual, sad, charming and sympathetic chemistry firing between them at all times; the actors have developed an actual relationship with each other that sort of resonates in the film.
Natalie Portman is magical in this movie. She delivers one of the best female performances of the year, playing a beautiful, spunky character that ambiguously has the odds on her side. We don't often her side of things, but when we do, it's a shocker. She deserved the Golden Globe she won and would deserve the Oscar (I place only Virginia Madsen before her).
Clive Owen proves his talent here, and proves that he is one of the most intriguing actors working today. He is stunningly able to shift from nasty to charming to perverted without seeming to be over (or under) acting, out of character or incapable. He is very capable. He grabs a hold of the audience in his scenes and doesn't let go until he's off-screen.
It is because of the amazing talent and presence of Portman and Owen that we sort of lose focus on Jude Law and Julia Roberts, who both do terrific jobs. Jude Law raises the specter on versatility here; I suggest you watch this with "Cold Mountain" and "The Talented Mr. Ripley" to drink in what this guy can do. Roberts is movie-star, and being one, subtlety is usually not present in her performances, but here it blooms. She uses it to suggest that her character is giving way to her desires, letting go of any morals or ethics. It's a touching, tragic performance. Possibly her best.
Now, the unabashed sexual dialogue may put off a few, but this is not a movie that glorifies sex, not by far. So watch it, no matter if you're a conservative or liberal, and study the values of empathy, honesty and the wisdom to not make the same mistakes twice.
8.5/10