I'm afraid, that like Caché, I have a huge crush on one of this film's lead characters (four if you count man-crushes and a kind of crush). I do not believe however, that my crushes have any effect on my seeing the the intrinsic quality in the performances and cinematography that continue to excite my senses and emotions re-watch after re-watch. Closer just happens to be an amazing film with lots of beautiful and talented, but mostly beautiful, people in it.
Mike Nichols, who brought the timeless, The Graduate, to the states in the late 1960s, brings another tale of people in crisis, trying to deal with the trials that life, or they themselves, have set in their way. Whereas The Graduate dealt with the travails of one confused post-graduate student, trying to find his place in the world, Closer expertly juggles four thirty-somethings interweaving relationships over an undefined and rather fluid amount of time.
The film opens as Alice (Natalie Portman) and Dan (Jude Law) catch each other's eye and are briefly oblivious to all the movement around them on a busy London street as they discover "love at first sight", an oft recurring theme in the film, which leads to Alice being hit by a car and an eerie greeting, "Hello, stranger". Time passes and the audience is introduced to Anna (Julia Roberts), who is an American photographer, taking a cover shot of Alice, for Dan's new book. "Love at first sight" happens again and is pursued in a private moment between Anna and Dan, he is rebuffed by Anna, who the audience perhaps believes might know better than to involve herself in another couple's relationship, she does not.
The film's final player, Larry (Clive Owen), is introduced in what is certainly the funniest scenes in a drama I have ever seen. I'll allow you to enjoy it when you see it and not say any further, other than it leads Larry to meet Anna and the second, but certainly not last, pairing of our very pretty leads is set in motion.
So, why do start the post by bringing announcing that this film is quite depressing? It sounds like it could be a romcom to begin with perhaps, but what the audience comes to learn quite quickly, is that we are watching the never-ending downfall of four very sad people who are driven in their cores by lust, in varying forms. Though they may appear to be welcoming, affluent, go-getters on the surface, you'll find yourself searching for any redeeming qualities in any of the characters as the film progresses.
This may sound like a negative criticism. It is not. While they may be living abysses, draining all hope and love from each other to try and fill their empty souls, they are very eloquent and fascinating events to behold, not unlike how the characters in Poe's A Descent Into the Maelström are struck by the uncontrollable, beautiful, and absurd event they witness. Unlike Poe's tale however, Closer doesn't have a simple happy ending.
In lieu of a proper conclusion, I'll leave you with this image, which I think displays the visual essence of this film better than I could describe. Like I said in the title, this is a Film Everyone Ought To Watch.
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