closer review

Have a picture of Closer?, please send it to us.
 

Average Ratings

Value for Money	8/10
Overall rating	8/10

67% Recommended2 out of 3 Reviews

• Overview
• Prices
• Reviews
• Write your review
• Ask a Question

By SayHelloToTheAngels on 27th Jan 2005

SayHelloToTheAngels's Ratings

Starring Actor/Actress	Jude Law, Julia Roberts
Where Did You See It?	Cinema
Value for money	9/10
Overall value	9/10
SayHelloToTheAngels's recommendation

Good Points

Very close to the original play, almost set as a play. The acting is fabulous.

Bad Points

15 rating meant the cinema was full of teenagers there to see Natalie Portman/Jude Law who couldn't stop giggling at the rather explicit language even though it was far from funny and did not stop talking!

General Comments

Closer is a fabulous film that well deserves all the plaudits it has been receiving. I originally saw the play on Broadway about 5 years ago and thought it was very dark and very moving. We were interested to see how it would be interpreted as a movie (even though we didn't remember much about the play) and were very very impressed.

In case you need to know, it's the story of four people, 2 male 2 female, and the relationships between them. It starts out with Dan (Jude Law) meeting Alice (Natalie Portman) and embarking on a relationship with her. It them jumps forward in time to where he meets Anna (Julia Roberts) and falls for her, but doesn't want to leave Alice and then Anna meets Larry (Clive Owen) and starts seeing him. It's based around the complex interaction of the four characters, how they care for and hurt each other and the development of the relationships between Dan & Alice, Dan & Anna and Anna & Larry. It's not full of action, but you do come to care for the very tragically flawed foursome over the course of the film, which takes place across several years.

About the nature of the film, they shot the movie almost as if it were a play, basing it around the dialogue and the interaction between the 4 main characters, using a minimal number of sets (more than in the stage version) which added atmosphere and helped to establish an almost claustrophobic and smothering sensation in regard to the relationships between the main characters. The actors were all wonderful and it was nice to finally see Jude Law get to showcase his talents instead of his pretty face and appear in a film actually worth watching.

My only real gripe was the fact that the film was surprisingly rated 15, not 18, despite some very explicit language and a couple of rather graphic discussions. Nothing was shown, only discussed, which is why, I assume, the rating was what it was, but the language was intrinsic to the plot development and was very adult. The screening we saw was full of young teenagers who clearly found this very amusing and giggled and shouted their way through a very serious and very intense film, which did rather ruin the atmosphere.

On the whole, if you can deal with a film in which not much really happens and that is based around dialogue rather than action, you'll find Closer a moving and exceptional piece of cinema.

Total Respect: +1