A searing drama that made me want to shower afterward

Rating: 7/10 (3 February 2005)

Mike Nichols' film "Closer" is simply a study in human relationships. Other than the four main characters, everyone else is an extra, with minimal dialogue, if any. Jude Law is Dan, a struggling writer who is a member of the Obituary staff at a London paper. One day he catches the eye of Alice, (Natalie Portman) who is walking down the street toward him, newly arrived from the United States. They lock eyes (in the film it seems like minutes, but is probably seconds) before she steps into oncoming traffic and gets hit by a car. Her injuries are not serious, but they are the beginning of a long and painful relationship. Some time later, Anna (Julia Roberts) a photographer, is snapping a photo of Dan for his upcoming debut novel when he promptly hits on her. The attraction is obviously mutual, but she manages to hold him off since he is involved with Alice, and she is newly separated from her husband. Some time later, he is messing around on the Internet, pretending to be a woman and chatting with a completely clueless doctor, Larry (Clive Owen). Dan arranges to meet Larry at the aquarium and tells him his name is "Anna". Of course, Anna is sitting there, Larry thinks she is the one he talked to, she is clueless, but figures out that Dan played a joke on both of them. Soon, THEY begin a relationship. Throughout the next year or two (the passing of time is so off-handedly managed that it is hard to determine exactly what time frame we pass) relationships get blurred, soured and, I hate to create a pun here: closer.
The tagline for "Closer" is "If you believe in love at first sight, you never stop looking". According to the action in the film, truer words were never spoken. The moral of the story is that everyone cheats. And if they don't, they are excessively co-dependent. (And actually, there are some cheaters who are excessively co-dependent.) While the story was very intricately woven, impressively so, it was still hard to take, particularly during a scene in which Clive Owen confronts Julia Roberts about her infidelity. The pain that these people cause one another is so pervasive that it becomes almost a character itself. And while the sleaze factor was so high I wanted to shower with a particularly abrasive soap the second I got home, the film's story was actually extremely thought provoking and discussion-worthy. Just driving home, my boyfriend and I got into a discussion about the characters, and he said that Anna was the most despicable character Julia Roberts has played, while I thought that Clive Owen was a bit much. I think the film acts as both a solidifier and divider between men and women on a few different levels, a sign that the film obviously succeeds in proving its thesis.
The acting in "Closer" is first-rate. I have never seen any of the characters in better form, quite honestly. Portman, an actress that I have marginalized as mediocre since every performance after her stunning debut in "The Professional", also impressed me; she subtly exhibited both weakness and slyness in a manner that made her character purposely hard to read. I actually consider Jude Law's performance as Dan to be his best since his role in "Road to Perdition". (Certainly a feat considering he was featured in no less than 653 films in 2004.) Roberts was actually mesmerizing (she's come a long way since the insipid "Pretty Woman") and I look forward to seeing Owen have a well-deserved prolific film career. As for the direction, Mike Nichols is flawless. He has really become a master at his trade. This doesn't necessarily mean that he is ceaselessly compelling, though he made all the right decisions in "Closer" from the pacing to the soundtrack, particularly the Damien Rice track that plays a couple of times throughout the film, (though I would have liked to have heard the Suzanne Vega song that is featured in the trailer) I would not go out of my way to see a Mike Nichols film based on his name alone, but I put him higher on the cred ladder that Ron Howard is also on; the films are usually good, but they don't always completely enthrall me.
This was not the case with "Closer" however. I walked out of the film not liking it at first, but I think that was because it was such a depressing commentary on relationships. The more I realized I was thinking about it even days after seeing it, the more I realized that it actually was a good movie with an unpleasant theme and some great acting. Whereas I would have given it a lower score right out of the box, I give it a supportive 7/10 now.
--Shelly