Like the lens of the photographer, Anna, the movie "Closer" zooms in on the lives of four people: Alice (Natalie Portman), Dan (Jude Law), Anna (Julia Roberts), and Larry (Clive Owen), following the ups and downs of their relationships with each other over the span of four years. The movie opens on the song "The Blower's Daughter," by Damien Rice and the words, "And so it is, just like you said it would be, life goes easy on me, most of the time." But what this movie is about, is not the sentiment reflected in those lines, but the opposite, the times where things are not so easy, and therefore the times most interesting to a viewer. Each time the setting changes, we see the couples at roughly a year from where they were before, and always at the start of a conflict. From the moment Alice steps into traffic to be rescued by Dan (already in a relationship with a woman we never see), we see how events conspire to bring people together, or seem to...finding that, perhaps, it's really people who conspire to bring people together, and to tear them apart.
"Borrowing" the life of his girlfriend, Alice, Dan writes a book which Anna (who also "borrows" the lives of people as a photographer) describes as "accurate...about sex, about love." One could use the same words to describe "Closer." While I tend to be one of those people who immediately dislikes a character in a story who cheats on his/her significant other, I found that I couldn't hate these characters. Initially, I wanted to dislike Dan, because he is the first to initiate a relationship with Anna while already with Alice. Anna tells him that she will not see him again because he's taken, and so she appears to be the better person. However, as the story progresses, I came to see how each person was both possibly legitimately in love with another, and yet could be dishonest with that person, and themselves. I decided that there was just one person who I felt bad for in the entire movie. When the moment came that I saw how that person was possibly worse than the others, it became clear that in this movie, as in life, there are no clear villains in relationships. While one person may be less a victim than the other, each contributes to the rise and fall of relationships, each with their own motives and manipulations.
While all of the actors portrayed their characters well, I was most impressed by both the acting and characters of Clive Owen (Larry) and Natalie Portman (Alice). Perhaps it was that they, more so than Law and Roberts had characters who came across as unique, driven, and creative in acting upon their desires. Or that they had some of the better lines, certainly in terms of humor. When Dan asks why she Alice doesn't eat fish she says, "Fish piss in the sea," he replies, "So do children," and Alice says, "Don't eat children either." Larry has some amusing lines as well, most working better in the context of a conversation. And then there are their lines delivered with such honesty that one could almost believe they came from the minds of the characters instead of writer, Patrick Marber. For example, Alice, when asked to tell Larry something true, says, "Lying is the most fun a girl can have without taking her clothes off, but it's better if you do, (a line after which Panic at the Disco titled two songs)." When Dan criticizes Larry's view of the heart, Larry says, "Have you ever seen a heart? It looks like a fist wrapped in blood!" Or perhaps it is that they seemed, at first, the most innocent and honest and therefore more likeable in general, before turning out to be as manipulative as everyone else.
The movie itself moves in a circle, beginning and ending with the same song, and beginning and ending with everyone in a situation similar, and yet a little different, from the situations they were in before the story began, each accepting their new roles, and moving on to the other complexities in their lives. And perhaps it is this that I love most about this movie: It is simple in set up, universal in the various ups and downs of relationships, and yet complex in the way everything intertwines, and the way each person, upon "Closer" inspection, both is and isn't who they appear to be.
Written by Patrick Marber, Directed by Mike Nichols, Approx 104 minutes, Rated R
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