|
 | Closer Director: Mike Nichols Rated: MA Now screening  Reading the tagline for 'Closer' ("If you believe in love at first sight, you never stop looking"), you might get the impression that this film is going to be a sweet romantic one. I know I did, and the movie's opening scenes seemed to confirm my expectations. The picture begins with two strangers, American Alice (Natalie Portman) and Englander Dan (Jude Law), meeting after Alice is hit by a car while crossing a London street. Dan accompanies her to hospital, and soon after she is discharged (her injuries being very minor), romance blossoms between the pair. So far, all seems innocent enough, but things take a somewhat disturbing turn when the movie abruptly jumps forward several months (with no announcement whatsoever: something that happens a few times during the picture), and Dan is shown having some pictures of himself taken by a professional photographer named Anna (Julia Roberts). Although Dan and Alice are now living together, Dan attempts to sleaze onto Anna, who succumbs without much resistance to his advances. Soon afterwards, the film's last principal character - a doctor named Larry (Clive Owen) - is introduced, this individual bumping into Anna after being the victim of a ribald practical joke played upon him by Dan. Larry and Anna's initial meeting proves rather awkward (mainly as Larry is expecting Anna to provide him with lots of hot, dirty sex), but despite this, they soon warm to each other, and eventually become romantically involved themselves. They end up marrying, but their union falls apart when Larry discovers that Anna has been sleeping with Dan behind his back. The cheating continues for the rest of the movie, all four of the main characters constantly playing cruel games with one another, and by the time the film is over, none of those characters comes across as remotely likeable or deserving of the viewer's sympathy. As an interesting aside, the movie focuses on the main characters so much that the cast list in the closing credits contains only six entries, the remaining two very minor characters who were probably only mentioned given that each had a tiny speaking part. 'Closer' is a thoroughly ugly and depressing movie, and by the time it was over, I wondered what the whole point of it had been, save perhaps to present an exceedingly cynical view of human relationships. To make matters worse, it's also excruciatingly boring for much of its length, particularly as it doesn't seem to go anywhere. Most of the dialogue is unbelievably inane, and the lives of the characters come across as completely sterile. Why?  | |
The latest issue available now!     |
All content copyright dB Magazine