I haven't seen a group of four people this self-absorbed and ethically vacuous since Seinfeld went off the air.
No, I didn't like it. Basically, it's a re-tread of Carnal Knowledge, again telling us that "Love Ain't Nothing but Sex Mispelled." Mike Nichols has deliberately created a movie with 4 reprehensible and manipulative characters and sent them crashing into one another, making us voyeurs to their pain. I kept expecting howls of "Jerry! Jerry!" as this movie resembles nothing so much as a hackneyed Springer rip-off.
I'll give Nichols credit though; at least the caliber of actors playing the roles is higher than the typical Springer production.
Instead of trailer trash stereotypes, this story plays out in London and features four very talented and good looking actors. Natalie Portman stands out as Alice, the stripper from New York, showing that her horrible performances in the two Star Wars prequels are aberrations caused by poor direction and editing. (Not to mention a script loaded with horrendous dialogue.) In Closer, Portman gives a powerfull performance, showing every facet of Alice's character, who is a beautiful as a diamond and just as hard. Julia Roberts is also good as Anna, the photographer who ruins Anna's relationship with Dan, played by Jude Law. Roberts' character here is edgy, fidgity, and very passive agressive in her approach to relationships, a long way from her more usual roles and she carries it off well. Jude Law does a great job with Dan, playing the eternal loser, always a few seconds behind everyone else, and therefore doomed to lose yet again. The only performance to rival Portman's is Clive Owens as the manipulative Dr. Larry, who manages to utterly destroy Dan in the space of about 2 minutes. His performance is excellent.
So, with all these good performances, why did I not like this movie? It presents an artificially warped view of relationships then purports to be telling us something true about ourselves.
That's garbage. Over and over again, the characters make choices in the movie that do not come close to reflecting real life. Would Anna really pick up a pervert in an aquarium? Would Alice suddenly turn on Dan for no real reason? And if these characters would make these kinds of choices, are they really representative af actual human beings?
None that I know.
Far from being a story about love, this is a tale of selfishness, greed, and anger wearing a mask of love. Even though it is well writen, well crafted, equisitely acted, in the end it's as empty of meaning as each of it's character's hearts are of love.
Posted by Rich at February 24, 2005 4:03 PM | TrackBack