 |
|
| |
|
||||
Closer is a 2004 film directed by Mike Nichols and written by Patrick Marber, who wrote the play of the same name upon which the film is based. It stars Julia Roberts, Clive Owen, Natalie Portman, and Jude Law in a story involving infidelity, intimacy and sacrifice. PlotThe film revolves around Portman as Alice, a young woman whose relocation from New York City to London is the catalyst for a series of relationships and betrayals amongst herself and three others. When Alice, a stripper, meets Dan, an unsuccessful author played by Jude Law, they strike a whirlwind romance. We move swiftly ahead several years and though the two are in a relationship, Dan is straying. He has written a book based on Alice's life and while being photographed to publicize it, he hits on the photographer, Anna (Roberts). Alice overhears this and is photographed weeping by Anna. Alice does not reveal what she overheard to Dan even as he attempts to pursue Anna. When Anna resists, he goes on the internet and finds Larry (Owen), a doctor. Pretending to be Anna and using the pretense that they will be having sex, Dan convinces Larry to meet at the aquarium. Larry goes to the meeting place (where Dan knew Anna would be) only to be made a fool of. Subsequently Anna and Larry become lovers. Then, a year later at a photo exhibition of Anna's, Dan convinces her to become involved with him. They begin cheating on their respective lovers, eventually confessing the affair and leaving their relationships for one another. Alice goes back to being a stripper, heartbroken by her loss, using the name "Jane Jones." There she runs into Larry who is visiting as a client, and he entices her into a one-night stand. Eventually, Larry convinces Anna to see him one last time; she agrees to sleep with him, so that he will sign divorce papers. Anna tells Dan about it, who takes it badly. Anna returns to Larry. Distraught, Dan confronts Larry to try and get Anna back. Instead, Larry tells him Alice's whereabouts, and instructs him to go to her. However, he also tells him about his night with her. Alice takes Dan back, but when Dan confronts her after she doesn't tell him about her night with Larry, she leaves him, saying "I would have loved you forever." In the end, Alice returns back to New York, abandoning the failed relationships she found in London. On her way back into the United States, it is revealed that her actual name was Jane Jones, and that she had lied about her name for the duration of her four-year relationship with Dan. The name "Alice" came from a plaque in a graveyard dedicated to a woman who sacrificed herself to save her three children. AnalysisThe film is stark in action and heavy on dialogue, likely because it is based on a stage play. Almost all of the dialogue comes from the four main characters. Throughout the film the only character who stays pure and honest is Alice; this is played as irony as she is the "ditsy" and "less stable" of the bunch. She is the only one who acts purely on genuine love, and is the only one who does not cheat on anyone or lie to them, save the pseudonym. The pseudonym reveals the irony of the scene in the strip club, where Larry tries to get her to say her real name: she's telling it to him, he just doesn't know it. One clear point the movie makes is about "moments" when a relationship can change, especially when people can give in to their desires. For example, Dan and Anna give in to the moment during the photoshoot, while Alice and Larry are tempted, but do nothing, during the exhibition. This is driven home in the final scene, where after his confrontation with Alice, Dan quickly returns to try and rectify his mistake, only to discover he's too late: "it's over." The film was billed as a romantic drama and though a success it took many people aback because of its explicit sexual dialogue. Characaters frankly and aggressively discuss sex acts with one another; notably the internet-exchange between Dan and Larry (with Dan posing as Anna) contains unusually graphic descriptions of sex acts. Owen starred in the play as "Dan," the role assumed by Law in the film. Tagline: If you believe in love at first sight, you never stop looking. External link
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
Copyright 2008 WordIQ.com - Privacy Policy
::
Terms of Use
:: Contact Us
:: About Us This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Closer (movie)". |