The Unseen Movie Review

Closer

Throughout his career, director Mike Nichols has excelled at creating superbly realised character studies, from his 1960s classics Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf and The Graduate through to his last feature film to receive widespread acclaim, 1998’s Bill Clinton-inspired Primary Colours. Closer is more in the same vein, following hot on the heels of his all-star, award-winning TV mini-series, Angels in America, which took a surreal, existentialist look at the AIDS crisis of the 1980s.

Although Angels in America was, both in terms of subject matter and style, somewhat unappealing for many, Closer returns to the more accessible, yet still somehow unpleasant, approach of Nichols’ earlier films. Much as both the lead characters in The Graduate were rather dislikeable at the same time as remaining largely sympathetic, here all four principles – played by a remarkable key cast made up of some of the biggest names working today – are deeply flawed people with which, nonetheless, audiences can easily identify.

Dan (Jude Law) is a writer who ends up living with and writing about dancer Alice (Natalie Portman) after she is hit by a London taxi. In the kind of typically complicated series of events which seem to happen in these kinds of relationship dramas, Dan cheats on Alice with photographer Anna (Julia Roberts), with whom he then becomes obsessed even after she starts going out with dermatologist Larry (Clive Owen) – largely as a result of his own actions. After this initial set up, the film follows the quintet over the next four years, as their already complex inter-relationships develop.

In the hands of a less talented director, even the imaginative script by British screenwriter Patrick Marber (a long-time collaborator with comic Steve Coogan) could have descended into fairly bland, unoriginal fare. But with Nichols’ expertise this easily rises to a par with some of the best cinematic explorations of sex and love yet committed to screen. He even manages to coax top-end performances out of Law and Roberts – two actors who seem content to rely more on their looks than their actual talent more often than not.

But what this film will probably be most remembered for is as the movie that marked Natalie Portman’s coming of age. After more than a decade as one of the big names in Hollywood, the 23 year old here puts in her first truly grown-up performance – and this is even after her nude scenes have been edited out. The lack of nudity is in fact entirely appropriate as, despite dealing intimately with the steamier side of romance, it is the emotions behind these relationships which are the real focus. Portman’s mastery of her character – especially in her scenes with the superb Clive Owen – should ensure that her utterly wooden turns in the Star Wars prequels will be forgiven as an aberration.

This is not a date movie – not unless you want to convince your other half that your relationship is doomed to pain and betrayal, at any rate. But it is an expertly accomplished exploration of the nature of love and lust, and a far more intelligent film than anyone would normally expect Hollywood to be able to produce.

posted by Nosemonkey @ 12:00 AM