Why Isn't Love Enough?

Rating: 8/10 (4 July 2006)

The basic story behind CLOSER could have been used as the premise for a romantic comedy or even a farce. There are four main characters: two men, a writer and a doctor, and two women, a photographer and a waitress/stripper. First the writer and the waitress/stripper are a couple, then the doctor and the photographer meet and eventually marry, and then over the years the characters migrate back and forth.
But this doesn't resolve itself with eternal fidelity in rose covered cottages. These characters are looking for something, and we don't know what it is because they don't.
The four leads are awesome, especially Julia Roberts. This screenplay and Mike Nichols's direction bring out qualities in her that have remained hidden until this film.
My only gripe was that it was hard to keep track of the passage of years as the story progressed. Maybe this was more concrete in the stage version. To a certain extent this could be measured by Natalie Portman's constantly changing styles and colors of hair.
But that may be a good thing because it makes the viewer work to keep up with things.
Some people have commented that the endless switching back and forth of mates would only take place in a big city: the film, except for a coda in New York, takes place in London. This implies that 'in our little town' relations aren't as complicated as this. If you say so, but my years of living tell me otherwise.
A nice grownup movie, rare these days. I saw SUPERMAN RETURNS this afternoon, then watched CLOSER on video tonight. In a few days the man of steel's adventures will have faded from my mind, but CLOSER gives the viewer a lot to think about even after it's over.