Inside Pulse Review – Closer

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Many times a duo of films will hit cinemas with a similar feel. For example, 2004 has already produced a couple of films dealing with vampire hunters in Van Helsing and Blade: Trinity.

Earlier in 2004 an uncommonly insightful film about relationships and insecurity, Michel Gondry’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, hit theatres. Gondry’s film, going through the many stages of a relationship with Jim Carrey’s Joel Barrish and Kate Winslet’s Clementine Kruczynski, felt like a new love that’s just starting. It evoked the elusive, exciting feeling you get from new love, which then gracefully shifted into the ease of familiarity. Gondry’s film had a sense of honesty about relationships to it that made it seem real, even though the premise was based in fantasy.

Now in late 2004 comes Mike Nichols’ rebuttal; Closer.

If Eternal Sunshine was the love you wanted to stay with, Closer is the girl you’ve been in too long. Its about what happens when you know your are going to destroy your partner, but you are drawn into another affair, and discover the other is someone you really love. Closer is the girl you end up cheating on, but it ends up hurting even worse in the end.

Starring Jude Law, Julia Roberts, Natalie Portman, and Clive Owen, Closer is a savage look at the way we can betray the ones we love when the unstoppable force of desire meets the immovable object of fidelity. Closer is as honest in how it looks at relationships as Gondry’s film, but this time the truth really hurts. The story is actually quite simple. The film begins with Jude Law’s Daniel locking eyes with Natalie Portman’s Alice and nearly getting her killed as they gaze at each other and she gets hit by a car while crossing the street.

Unsuspecting viewers will be taken in by the sweetness of the opening scenes as Daniel and Alice bond and form a kinship of love. Flash forward months ahead to Dan then meeting Julia Roberts’s Anna at a photo shoot for his new novel about Alice’s life. Dan is immediately obsessed with Anna, but is rebuked after a kiss. Enter Clive Owen’s Larry, a rough and simple man who in a strange twist of fate, becomes Anna’s new love and eventual husband. The remainder of the film is a barrage of betrayals and vicious dialogue sequences leading up to the film’s somber conclusion.

If Mike Nichols’s The Graduate was controversial in its time for its open portrayal of a teenager being seduced by an older woman, Closer is no less shocking by today’s standards. Nichols’direction is impeccable as the film never seems to get bogged down even though each scene usually just features two people talking to each other. Each actor’s standoff is riveting as infidelity in the film is piled higher and higher until it finally reaches a breaking point. After his triumphs with the aforementioned The Graduate, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolfe? and the HBO miniseries Angels in America, its amazing that Nichols has this type of film left in him. Closer has a raw core to it, that can be very nasty, but is still very much part of the human condition. Much can be said for the screenplay as well.

Also raising the bar are all of the actors involved. Julia Roberts, coming off the fun of Ocean’s 12 gives perhaps the performance of her career. Anna is unlucky in love, but cannot stop herself from being drawn to each of these two men. The actress raises her game by not shying away from scenes and dialogue many actresses would retreat from. There’s just something disconcerting about Julia Roberts’s talking about one man’s semen being sweeter that another. Once just considered, America’s Sweetheart, Roberts acquits herself of the failures of past performances in drivel like Runaway Bride and of course, America’s Sweethearts.

Clive Owen, shedding off King Arthur‘s box office failure, is absolutely riveting as Larry, a caveman, at once a man among men, and yet still insecure about his sexual prowess. His verbal sparring with Anna is one of the many highlights of the film. Owen gives a wonderfully layered performance of a man who all at once can be terribly frightening and painfully pitiful.

Jude Law, coming off 2,356 starring performances this year gives his most intriguing screen appearance. Danielle is a man who is extremely lovable when letting his guard down, but equally as loathsome when his facade goes up.

Natalie Portman’s Alice is a breakthrough for the actress, even after her lovable turn in Garden State. Alice is the picture of innocence one moment and the next she is a steely veteran of failed relationships. Bravo to the entire cast for giving it their all on screen for the audience are the ones who really benefit.

Robert Sutton feels the most at home when he's watching some movie scumbag getting blown up, punched in the face, or kung fu'd to death, especially in that order. He's a founding writer for the movies section of Insidepulse.com, featured in his weekly column R0BTRAIN's Badass Cinema as well as a frequent reviewer of DVDs and Blu-rays. Also, he's a proud Sony fanboy, loves everything Star Wars and Superman related and hopes to someday be taken seriously by his friends and family.