Well acted but too extreme, convenient and lacking the development that would have made the characters people I care about

Rating: Null/10 (17 January 2005)

After a chance meeting at the scene of an accident, Alice and Dan start seeing each other and fall in love. When Dan has his photograph taken for his new book, he meets Anna and kisses her  starting a desire for her that continues even when a practical joke sees her happening to meet Larry. Anna and Larry fall for one another and start seeing each other while Dan and Alice continue their relationship. However desires, the truth and complexities in modern relationships all see things falling apart as easily as they first came together.
Perhaps it says something about the majority of films released in the cinema these days but, whenever we get one that is dark, adult and edgy it is almost a given that the critics will fall over themselves to praise it and many viewers drawn to it will go ready to appreciate it no matter what. So it seems with Closer: an adult, bleak, dark look at the selfish and fleeting nature of "love" that is deeply flawed despite being still worth a watch. I heard one critic say that he disliked this film because he just wanted to get up on the screen and slap all the characters for being stupid  I don't totally agree with him but the problem that made him say that (I think) is pretty much the same problem that I have with it. That is the narrative and the lack of development. You see, the film jumps years at a time without ever telling you it has  and it jumps from one "complex situation" to another with nothing in between. Therefore, although much of it is well written and convincing, it is never happening to real people or even characters we know or care about it  it feels like you're standing in the street watching a couple fight, you have no involvement but it is of some interest.
Like I said, a lot of it is convincing; yes these people are stupid in love, driven by desires and unlikely to ever be happy but then that is what a lot of people are like to a lesser extent. The exaggeration and the lack of inner development within the story combines to damage this and it does regularly lose this convincing touch because it goes too far or does things in a lazy fashion (the heavy reliance on coincidence early on is an insult to the audience). For example the final twist in the film is very interesting but yet we are given nothing to help us understand the character it involves or even care about it retrospectively. It is a real shame because the cast try so hard and are so good that it is hard not to like their performances. Roberts is very low key and, perhaps deliberately, underplays a lot compared to the others. Owen is the standout  playing a nice guy on the surface but much more just under the surface; it is difficult to "get" a simple character sometimes but here he does this complex one justice. Like me, Law may not have totally understood his character and didn't cope as well with the complexities within him but still does well with the role. Portman is difficult for me to judge because I do have a lot of time for her and it is hard to be objective. I didn't feel that her character was well done at all but that she as an actress had done the best she could with it regardless.
Overall this is a dark, edgy and adult film and it does make a change from the constant action movies and teenage thrillers in the multiplexes but these factors alone do not make it a fantastic film, even if it does make it an interesting film (it is certainly not a "triumph" as the poster proclaims). The narrative only concerns crisis-points, sometimes years apart, without putting anything in between and it exaggerates things to the point where it is hard to really let them touch you even if a lot of it is pretty convincing and realistic (at least in the heart if not actions)  this leaves us without characters we care about and just performances to watch. The cast are roundly great but it is hard to really care about it enough. I didn't want to get up and slap the characters but the film was a bit like watching a couple fight  interesting, realistic but neither requiring nor allowing any emotional involvement from the viewers.