(detailed information about this entry from Wikipedia)
Closer is a 2004 film directed by Mike Nichols and written by Patrick Marber, who wrote the play of the same name upon which the film is based. It stars Julia Roberts, Clive Owen, Natalie Portman, and Jude Law in a story involving infidelity, intimacy and sacrifice. The film features many extracts from Mozart's opera Così fan tutte as incidental music. Also, the music of Irish folk singer Damien Rice is featured in the film, most notably the song, "The Blower's Daughter", whose lyrics drew many parallels with the themes present in the film.
Portman was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance, and Owen was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Synopsis
In the opening scene, Alice Ayres (Portman) and Dan Wolfe (Law) see each other for the first time from opposite sides of a street, as they are walking towards each other amongst many other rush hour pedestrians. Alice is a young American stripper who just arrived in London, while Dan is an unsuccessful British author who is on his way to work, where he writes obituaries for a newspaper. Alice looks in the wrong direction as she is crossing the street and is hit by a taxi cab right in front of Dan's eyes. He rushes over. She smiles to him and and says, "Hello, stranger." He takes her to a hospital and afterwards, on the way to his office, they stop by a cemetery that he and his father visited after his mother's death. Pausing in front of the office before he leaves her and goes to work, he asks her for her name and she tells him her name is Alice Ayres. They soon become lovers.
A year later, though the two are in a relationship, Dan is straying. He has written a novel based on Alice's life and while being photographed to publicize it, he flirts with the American photographer, Anna Cameron (Roberts). Despite finding out that Dan and Alice are in a relationship, Anna shares a kiss with Dan before Alice arrives. Later, Alice overhears them talking about it, and asks Dan to leave her alone with Anna so that she may have her portrait taken as well. While being photographed, she reveals to Anna that she overheard them, and is photographed weeping. Alice does not reveal what she overheard to Dan, even as he spends a year stalking Anna, who resists.
A year later, Dan enters an Internet cybersex chat room and randomly meets Larry Gray (Owen), a British dermatologist. With Anna still on his mind, Dan pretends to be her, and using the pretense that they will be having sex, Dan convinces Larry to meet at the aquarium (where Anna told Dan she often went). Larry goes to the meeting place, only to be made a fool of. Anna tells Larry that a man who had pursued her, Dan, was most likely to blame for the setup. Soon, Anna and Larry become a couple and they refer to Dan as "Cupid" from then on.
Alice meets Larry at Anna's exhibition.
Four months later, at Anna's photo exhibition, Larry meets Alice, whom he recognizes from the tearful photograph that is one of many being exhibited. Larry knows that Alice and Dan are a couple, from talking to Anna. Meanwhile, Dan convinces Anna to become involved with him. They begin cheating on their respective lovers for a year, even though Anna and Larry become married halfway through the year. Eventually Anna and Dan each confess the affair to their respective partners, leaving their relationships for one another. Alice goes back to being a stripper, heartbroken by her loss. One day, Larry runs into her at the stripclub and is convinced that she is the woman he met before. He asks her if her name is Alice, but no matter how much money he gives her, she keeps telling him her name is "Jane Jones". He asks her to have a one-night stand with him but she refuses.
Eventually, Larry convinces Anna to see him one last time; she agrees to sleep with him, so that he will sign the divorce papers and leave her alone. Anna tells Dan about it, who takes it badly. Anna returns to Larry. Distraught, Dan confronts Larry to try and get Anna back. Instead, Larry tells him Alice's whereabouts, and suggests him to go to her. However, out of malice, he also tells him that he had a one-night stand with her. Alice takes Dan back. When Dan asks her whether she had a one-night stand with Larry, she cannot bring herself to tell the truth but also cannot bring herself to lie so the relationship must end. He reveals that Larry had already told him the truth but that he's already forgiven her. This leads to a heated argument ending with Alice spitting in Dan's face and Dan replying with a slap. In the end, Alice returns to New York, abandoning the failed relationship she found in London. Passing through the immigration checkpoint on her way back into the United States, it is revealed through a shot of her passport that her real name is indeed Jane Jones and that she had lied about her name for the duration of her four-year relationship with Dan. Visiting the cemetery, Dan notices the name "Alice Ayres" on a plaque that is dedicated to a girl who sacrificed herself to save three children, and realizes what "Alice" had done.
Cast
Themes
The film is sparse in action and heavy on dialogue, likely because it is based on a stage play. Almost all of the dialogue comes from the four main characters. The film was billed as a romantic drama and, though a success, it took many people aback because of its explicit sexual dialogue. Characters frankly and aggressively discuss sex acts with one another; notably the internet-exchange between Dan and Larry (with Dan posing as Anna) contains unusually graphic descriptions of sex acts.
The original play had a questioning title: "What's so great about the truth? The truth hurts people, try lying for a change. It's the currency of the world."
WRONG: [Throughout the film, the only character who stays honest is Alice. She is the only one who acts on genuine love, and is the only one who does not cheat on anyone or lie to them, save the pseudonym. The pseudonym reveals the irony of the scene in the strip club, where Larry demands her real name: she's telling it to him, but he doesn't believe her. (This point is up for debate, as Alice's words and actions are in need of serious reconsideration once the truth about her name arises.)]
TRUE: Throughout the film, the only character who stays honest is Larry. He can't lie. He can't lie to his wife. He can't lie to Dan. Alice is just as insidious and dishonest as everybody else in the movie. However, she immediately felt Dan's dishonesty upon meeting him, and named herself after someone she saw on a tombstone in the park.
HOWEVER: Let us not forget that while Alice's lie was her personal shield and the pseudonym a brilliant plot device, Larry is not exactly the good guy here. He manipulates Anna into getting into bed with him and getting back with him as a result. He also tells Dan that he slept with Alice knowing the effect such a fact would have on him. His aggressive nature combined with his skill at reverse psychology makes him perhaps the most human of each of the characters since he is neither completely honest or dishonest.
One clear point the movie makes is about "moments" when a relationship can change, especially when people can give in to their desires. For example, Dan and Anna give in to the moment during the photoshoot, while Alice and Larry are tempted, but do nothing, during the exhibition. This is driven home in the final scene, where after his confrontation with Alice, Dan quickly returns to try and rectify his mistake, only to discover he's too late: "I don't love you anymore. Goodbye."
While truth is the ultimate underlying theme in this play, it plays deeply into the inescapable humanity of the act of lying. That is not to say that lying is a virtue, but it is something all people do. Though Larry does not necessary lie outright, he effectively manipulates and does so via underhanded reverse psychology. The way that each character treats each other is all too familiar in being self-serving and self-pitying. Anna and Dan fall into the trap of taking the simpler road rather than the more trying, more rewarding one. Larry keeps the spoils but has done so at the cost of the trust he should have always had with his wife. In the end, Alice is the only character who manages to finally muster the courage to walk away.
Reception
The film was released on December 3, 2004 in the United States. Closer opened in limited release, but theatre count was increased after the film was released. The film was domestically a financial success, grossing $33,987,757. Huge success followed in the international market, where the film grossed an additional $81,488,750, accounting for over 70% of its worldwide gross, which turned out to be $115,476,507. It was considered a great success at the box office as its actual production budget was only $27 million. [1]
The film received a good 7.4/10 on the Internet Movie Database, as well as a modest 68% on the Rotten Tomatoes review collection website. The film was nominated for numerous awards, including two Academy Awards and two Golden Globes, one of which was won by Natalie Portman.
Awards and nominations
The film won the following awards:
The film was nominated for the following awards:
Trivia
- Tagline: If you believe in love at first sight, you never stop looking.
- Owen starred in the play as "Dan", the role assumed by Law in the film.
- Natalie Portman reportedly shot full-frontal nude scenes for when her character is stripping for Clive Owen's character, Larry. However she and the director, Mike Nichols, decided to cut these shots out of the film. This is possibly, however, another instance of the kind of viral marketing such as that involving the nudity of Anne Hathaway in Havoc.
- According to nndb.com, Roberts, more accustomed to romantic comedies, reportedly had difficulty making her lines sound authentic. Portman, more experienced with such dialogue, purchased a delicate necklace, had it engraved with the word "Cunt," and gave it to Roberts to help break the tension. It worked, and when the production wrapped Roberts said 'thank you' by giving Portman a similar necklace, engraved "Li'l Cunt." [1]
- Shahin Badar's vocals can be heard in the soundtrack.
Notes
External links
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Closer (2004) 
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Bližnji odnosi (2004) (Slovenia)
