Flawed but ultimately worthwhile

Rating: 7/10 (13 February 2005)

People aren't having fun. The world isn't nice and reality is cruel. The deep core of relationships consists in the end of pure self-humiliation. The human heart looks like "a fist covered in blood" and we should "try lying for a change, it's the currency of the world". This is "Closer". Four people that go around in circles through each other, exploring the art of heartbreaking. By the credits, all of them has been (and cheated) with each other. In the beginning, nobody is particularly happy. In the end, nobody is particularly happy.
This has been seen before, but seldom in Hollywood. It is very understandable that there has been a hype surrounding this film, given that it is an American film and not, specially not, European. The raw and totally unforgiving tone is daring indeed. Mike Nichols, on the other hand, has always been dancing around the thin line of what is sentimentally "under-the-top" and his very raw directing is of course a given trade of success for "Closer". The precision of the work in this film is, at moments, pure brilliant. The Production Design is always reflecting the hollow and artificial, the music is symbolic to the very last (wether The Smiths "How Soon is Now?" or Mozart's "Cosí fan tutte", translated "So do they all") and while the audience never gets to witness any real love sequences, the characters are constantly finding aways of avoiding emotions when faced with them. It is very well-made and the collaboration between the elements are giving a solid rock foundation for the film which makes it deliver it's punches.
There are problems, though. In an absurd way, while the themes are heavy, there is something very "easy" about the film. If there ever was a "feel-good"-movie playing with the audience instinctive emotions, "Closer" is quite the "feel-bad"-film, doing just the same. And while "Closer" has a realistic portrayal of the real life, the film also feels somewhat unrealistic at points. The screenplay is filled with smart and overly coherent dialog, but it doesn't give anything else. In all the wit of the dialog, the coherence vanishes. The characters, specially Julia Roberts', tend to come off blank and fuzzy, going from one point to the other constantly and without any reason. Nichols' directing makes "Closer" look the real world, but the screenplay shows us things that, without being exaggerated, still come off like something that simply doesn't happen.
Still, "Closer" is a refreshing American film. It's too shallow and unambiguously written to be any near a masterpiece, but the good craftsmanship makes it a worthwhile and recommended tragedy.