Love is not all beautiful

Rating: 5/10 (25 April 2009)

"Closer" tells a romance that is not romantic at all. The opening of the film is kind of deceptive. When Alice(by Natalie Portman) opens her eyes to see the handsome Dan(by Jude Law), I expect a romantic love story that is not quite practical but beautiful. And my expectation continues all the way through these two's trip around London until the scene in the studio of the photographer Anna(by Julia Roberts) comes up, and all the following part turns out that the film is about the pain, twistedness and ugliness of love and sex. Dan has a crush on Anna, and regardless of his relationship with Alice, he tries to seduce Anna(without avail at first). A greedy man who sees two kinds of beauty in women and wants to have them both--not so uncommon; but he really disgusts me when he, posing as Anna, engages in an online sex chat with Larry(by Clive Owen), and even arranges a date for them. Here I see a man letting out his desire for a woman in a real perverted way. To add more to my shock, the date turns out to be working for Larry and Anna! Anna somehow gives me the impression of an intelligent and mature woman, and why she gets herself involved in a relationship with Larry, who seems to be driven much more by sexual urges than love, still remains a puzzle to me. Dan and Larry are the two most contemptible heroes I have ever seen in a film. Their loves for Alice and Anna are entangled with obscenity and suspicion, even to a hysterical extent; on the other hand, the two heroines seem to be calm and rational, but somewhat weak and vulnerable to the men's brutal love. In the end, Larry manages to get back Anna, Alice seems to be free from all the mess, and Dan, although the busiest struggling in his love for two women, is left with nothing, not even the real name of the one who may once loved him the most. All in all, the story is ridiculous and makes no sense; well, maybe that is what the film is about: Love can be ridiculous and make no sense.