Stripped Down

Rating: 9/10 (19 June 2005)

I didn't make an effort to see this film in the theatre, and I think now that wasn't such a bad thing. I watched it in the intimacy of my own bedroom, on the closed space of my PC, paying rapt attention to the dialogue coming from my small speakers.
This film is a contained universe about a handful of experiences and emotions that connect directly to the heart - which is, in the words of one character, "A fist wrapped in blood." There is plenty of verbal blood let here, trust me.
The four characters (essentially the entire cast) play a round-robin game of desire, but not a desire born of tenderness. This desire is a battle of power, with it's participants using sex as their favorite weapon. They want to love, but find themselves unable to meet it's stringent requirements. Instead, they settle for sex as a curdled substitute.
Clive Owen is visceral, cutting, bestial, and oh-SO-smart. He's a gladiator who wins more often than he loses. He may be cruel - but he's a WINNER - and his enemies will never be allowed to forget that.
Julia Roberts is perfectly adequate as a chilly photographer who casually takes, destroys, and doesn't seem to care much about the fall-out. She almost seems to play with men out of profound boredom. If any of these characters can be called amoral, it would be her.
Jude Law comes across as an overly sensitive and boneless jerk who can't decide if he loves anyone more than himself. His character behaves like a petulant child, thus in a key scene with Clive Owen's raging animal, one can practically see Law shrink both physically and emotionally. Indeed, he seems almost grateful for the clarity than Owens provides. Law's performance has been criticized, but frankly he plays a diminished character and I suspect that's not the easiest trick for someone as elegant and beautiful him. He deserves credit.
Natalie Portman is no longer a little girl. She is heartbreakingly beautiful and articulate, yet her character can't be pinned. In the beginning she begs to be loved, but as her character evolves over the course of the film she learns how to use what the Lord gave her - but perhaps not for good. She is excruciatingly aware of how she affects men. I'm not sure she truly enjoys that power. By the time she is betrayed for the final time, the coquettishness is gone - replaced by a woman who despises the men who desire her.
Portman is an actress to contend with. She has a long and bright future ahead of her - and I predict that she will join Roberts as an Oscar winner some day.
The final scene of the film, which focuses solely on Portman's character, left me in tears. Of course, those cellos in the beautiful, haunting, and anguished 'theme' song by Damien Rice went a long way toward turning on my waterworks, too.
This is a humanist movie. Okay, so it's not a movie that's going to make you feel GOOD about the human condition - but it is one that is truthful about the darker meanings of sex, love, and power.
"Closer" is a MUST-SEE for anyone who cherishes a meaty drama.