A Beautifully Written Film

Rating: 9/10 (23 February 2005)

Mike Nichols' "Closer," is at once a cross-section of relationships in western culture and a scathing revelation of the deception and underhandedness that lies at the root of these relationships. The audience was silent at the end of this film when I saw it, and rightly so. It is one of the best films of the year, put very simply.
The film, based on screenwriter, Patrick Marber's successful play, centers around two couples: Dan and Alice (Jude Law, Natalie Portman) and Larry and Anna (Clive Owen, Julia Roberts.) How these people come to be with one another is coincidental. How they deceive one another is despicable and how love quickly mutates into a desire to cause each other pain is tragic.
Through Nichols' brilliant direction, he creates the illusion that there is an entropic tragedy, where there is really just a melodramatic relationship drama. That's what's so great about this film: you are so sucked into the experiences of these four characters and you feel their pain so deeply. The dialogue scorches like acid and burns hard and deep. Particularly, the scene in which Larry (Owen) confronts his wife Anna (Roberts) about her affair with Dan (Law.) There are explicit descriptions, at Larry's request, of sexual positions, practices and even talk of bodily fluids because Larry simply has to know if she enjoyed it. "I'm a fu**ing caveman," he explains.
Despite all the graphic sexual conversation that takes place in this film, there are no "sex scenes" in the traditional sense. There are no scenes where people are actually having sex, there are only scenes directly before and after the act. This is possibly to add to the theme of the mystery of sex: how it makes us do weird things and how it tears us down the middle. It is amazing to me, that in the absence of sex scenes, this movie is incredibly sexy. It's all in the script and the wonderful performances.
All of the actors really pull together and deliver outstanding performances. Jude Law and Julia Roberts bring subtle and poignant performances to this film. even whilst uttering laughable lines of dialogue such as "I can see the love it draining out of you." I was particularly impressed with Roberts, who delivers her best theatrical turn since her Oscar-winning performance in "Erin Brockovich." Though I don't normally enjoy her as an actress, her absence from this year's best actress nominee roster seems strange.
Even more impressive than Jude Law and Julia Roberts are academy award nominees Clive Owen and Natalie Portman. Clive Owen, with his large, sinister teeth and angry throaty voice make him the perfect jealous husband. Portman's performance is so multi-dimensional that I will not refer to it as "her first adult role." While her character is a stripper, and curses like a sailor, Portman's Alice has a tragic vulnerability reminiscent of her performance in "Leon." She is the most likable character in the movie and the best performance. For it is Alice and Larry who are victims in the beginning, yet they use one another to get back at their lovers. While it's deplorable, you identify with Alice's need to hurt Dan who has hurt her. It is lovely to see her get the last laugh. If there's any justice, Natalie Portman WILL win best supporting actress for this performance Closer will surely be studied in film classes as an example of film-making at its best. It is a film that rises above its humble appearance to so much more.