Hello, Stranger!

Rating: 9/10 (26 April 2009)

The Movie is named as "Closer", meaning the story took place in a weird situation between "Close" and "Closest". "Closer", then raises questions of "binary" -- some relative concepts: "soul" and "lust", "frankness" and "suspicion", "jealousy" and "forgiveness" all of which come down to the deep relation between "closeness" and "strangeness". The focus of the movie is the seemly antagonistic, but in fact indistinguishable binary concepts.
1. Soul and Lust "Sex" and "love", "body" and "soul", "beast" and "human" these three groups of opposing concepts can be best shown through the contrast between Larry and Dan. Larry, the self-proclaimed "Sultan", is most in need of physical and sexual satisfaction. He needs to be absolutely frank, just like naked animals. Anna describes him as rough, direct and high-handed. Larry also considers "sex" the most important element in a marriage. On the other hand, Dan is a cupid. Dan's sensitivity, whole-hearted love, and pursuit of perfection make him sick of Anna and Larry's parting sex. Although he thinks he can forgive Alice and Larry for their sexual relation, but in the end he slapped Alice. We can see that the director does not want to criticize Dan's sorrow and favors Larry's odious behavior, instead, he points out that under no circumstances can "soul" and "lust" separable.
2. Frankness and Deception Compared to their male counterparts, the portrayals of women are more focus on the "love" level. Anna and Alice tell lies, but for the men they loved. Nevertheless, we found that however frank the characters are, it will all return to "suspicion". As in the case Larry urged Alice to tell her real name, even if Alice frankly says her name is Jones, Larry still does not believe her. It can boil down to the fact that, suspicion breeds out of distrust, and distrust result from having been deceived before. Therefore, "honest" is the nickname of "deceit".
3. Jealousy and Forgiveness The relation of "jealousy and forgiveness" is hidden beneath the surface of "sex" and "love". Larry's attitude towards Alice is out of revenge; similarly Larry wants Dan to know that he and Anna have sex before divorce is also a kind of revenge. In the movie, two pairs of men and women whisper with each other is a "demonstration of jealousy." Dan believes that he can forgive Anna which turns out not; Similarly Alice can not forgive Dan, so she no longer cried but indifferently says "I do not love you". In contrast, Anna and Larry's situation appears different, under the surface of the victory does not mean that Larry has no jealousy and forgiveness. Therefore, in the love world, jealousy and forgiveness is not a binary opposition, they coexist.
4. Closeness and Strangeness--fuzzy The movie can be concluded in the guarding theme of "intimate" and "strange", from the stranger's love at first sight at the beginning of the movie to Anna's career of photographing strangers to the seemly closeness between Anna and Larry at the end of the movie. The movie does not completely separate the concept of "close" and "strange". Take Dan and Alice for example, they obviously do not know each other but fall in love at first sight; then they gain better understandings of each other but in the end, Dan finds that Alice has been using a fake name. How to define "close" and "strange"? In the movie, Dan recalls the time when he first met Alice, as if it was the most intimate time between them. So there is no boundary between "closeness" and "strangeness". The movie, I think, is rather vague. The ambiguity of it is also where the attraction lies.
In conclusion, the movie displays the ambiguity of love and life, which is the true nature of them and the true beauty of them.