Closer (film)

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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. The film features many extracts from Mozart's opera Così fan tutte as incidental music. Also, the music of Irish folk singer Damien Rice is featured in the film, most notably the song, "The Blower's Daughter", whose lyrics drew many parallels with the themes present in the film.

Portman was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance, and Owen was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Synopsis

In the opening scene, Alice Ayres (Portman) and Dan Wolfe (Law) see each other for the first time from opposite sides of a street, as they are walking towards each other amongst many other rush hour pedestrians. Alice is a young American stripper who just arrived in London, while Dan is an unsuccessful British author who is on his way to work, where he writes obituaries for a newspaper. Alice looks in the wrong direction as she is crossing the street and is hit by a taxi cab right in front of Dan's eyes. He rushes over. She smiles to him and says, "Hello, stranger." He takes her to a hospital and afterwards, on the way to his office, they stop by a cemetery that he and his father visited after his mother's death. Pausing in front of the office before he leaves her and goes to work, he asks her for her name and she tells him her name is Alice Ayres. They soon become lovers.

A year later, though the two are in a relationship, Dan is straying. He has written a novel based on Alice's life and while being photographed to publicize it, he flirts with the American photographer, Anna Cameron (Roberts). Despite finding out that Dan and Alice are in a relationship, Anna shares a kiss with Dan before Alice arrives. Later, Alice overhears them talking about it, and asks Dan to leave her alone with Anna so that she may have her portrait taken as well. While being photographed, she reveals to Anna that she overheard them, and is photographed weeping. Alice does not reveal what she overheard to Dan, even as he spends a year stalking Anna, who resists.

A year later, Dan enters an Internet cybersex chat room and randomly meets Larry Gray (Owen), a British dermatologist. With Anna still on his mind, Dan pretends to be her, and using the pretense that they will be having sex, Dan convinces Larry to meet at the aquarium (where Anna told Dan she often went). Larry goes to the meeting place, only to be made a fool of. Anna tells Larry that a man who had pursued her, Dan, was most likely to blame for the setup. Soon, Anna and Larry become a couple and they refer to Dan as "Cupid" from then on.

Four months later, at Anna's photo exhibition (the only scene where all four characters are seen together), Larry meets Alice, whom he recognizes from the tearful photograph that is one of many being exhibited. Larry knows that Alice and Dan are a couple, from talking to Anna. Meanwhile, Dan convinces Anna to become involved with him. They begin cheating on their respective lovers for a year, even though Anna and Larry become married halfway through the year. Eventually Anna and Dan each confess the affair to their respective partners, leaving their relationships for one another. Alice goes back to being a stripper, heartbroken by her loss. One day, Larry runs into her at the stripclub and is convinced that she is the woman he met before. He asks her if her name is Alice, but no matter how much money he gives her, she keeps telling him her name is "Jane Jones". He asks her to have a one-night stand with him but she refuses.

Eventually, Larry convinces Anna to see him one last time; she agrees to sleep with him, so that he will sign the divorce papers and leave her alone. 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 suggests that he go to see her. However, out of malice, he also tells him that he had a one-night stand with her. Alice takes Dan back. When Dan asks her whether she had a one-night stand with Larry, she initially denies it. But when he insists on the truth, she suddenly tells him that she doesnt love him anymore and goes on to say that she did sleep with Larry. Dan then reveals that Larry had already told him about the one-night stand but that he's already forgiven her. She insists that its over and tells him to leave. This leads to a heated argument ending with Alice spitting in Dan's face and Dan replying with a slap. In the end, Alice returns to New York, abandoning the failed relationship she found in London. Passing through the immigration checkpoint on her way back into the United States, it is revealed through a shot of her passport that her real name is indeed Jane Jones and that she had lied about her name for the duration of her four-year relationship with Dan. Visiting the cemetery, Dan notices the name "Alice Ayres" on a plaque that is dedicated to a girl who sacrificed herself to save three children, and realizes what "Alice" had done.

Cast

Actor	Role
Natalie Portman	Alice
Jude Law	Dan
Julia Roberts	Anna
Clive Owen	Larry

Themes

The film is sparse in action and heavy on dialogue, and almost all of the dialogue comes from the four main characters. The film was billed as a romantic drama and, though a success, it took many people aback because of its explicit sexual dialogue. Characters 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.

The original play had a questioning title: "What's so great about the truth? The truth hurts people - try lying for a change. It's the currency of the world."

While truth is the ultimate underlying theme in this play, it plays deeply into the inescapable humanity of the act of lying. That is not to say that lying is a virtue, but it is something all people do. Though Larry does not necessarily lie outright, he effectively manipulates and does so via underhanded reverse psychology. The way that each character treats each other is all too familiar in being self-serving and self-pitying. Anna and Dan fall into the trap of taking the simpler road rather than the more trying, more rewarding one. Larry keeps the spoils but has done so at the cost of the trust he should have always had with his wife. In the end, Alice is the only character who manages to finally muster the courage to walk away.

Reception

The film was released on December 3, 2004 in the United States. Closer opened in limited release, but theatre count was increased after the film was released. The film was domestically a financial success, grossing $33,987,757. Huge success followed in the international market, where the film grossed an additional $81,517,270, accounting for over 70% of its worldwide gross, which turned out to be $115,505,027. It was considered a great success at the box office as its actual production budget was only $27 million.

The film received a good 7.4/10 on the Internet Movie Database, as well as a modest 68% on the Rotten Tomatoes review collection website. The film was nominated for numerous awards, including two Academy Awards and Closer picked up two Golden Globes, for Natalie Portman and Clive Owen.

Awards and nominations

The film won the following awards:

Year	Award	Category - Recipient(s)
2005	BAFTA Awards	Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role - Clive Owen
2005	Golden Globes	Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture - Clive Owen
		Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture - Natalie Portman
2005	Las Vegas Films Critics Society	Best Supporting Actor - Clive Owen
2004	National Board of Review	Best Acting by an Ensemble - Jude Law, Clive Owen Natalie Portman and Julia Roberts
2004	New York Film Critics Circle	Best Supporting Actor - Clive Owen
2004	San Diego Film Critics Society	Best Supporting Actress - Natalie Portman
2004	Toronto Film Critics Association	Best Supporting Actor, Male - Clive Owen

The film was nominated for the following awards:

Year	Award	Category - Recipient(s)
2005	Academy Awards	Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture - Clive Owen
		Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture - Natalie Portman
2005	American Screenwriters Association	Discover Screenwriting Award - Patrick Marber
2005	BAFTA Awards	Best Screenplay - Adapted - Patrick Marber
		Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role - Natalie Portman
2005	Broadcast Film Critics Association	Best Acting Ensemble - Jude Law, Clive Owen, Natalie Portman and Julia Roberts
		Best Supporting Actor - Clive Owen
		Best Supporting Actress - Natalie Portman
2005	Golden Globes	Best Director - Motion Picture - Mike Nichols
		Best Motion Picture - Drama
		Best Screenplay - Motion Picture - Patrick Marber
2005	Broadcast Film Critics Association	Best Acting Ensemble - Jude Law, Clive Owen, Natalie Portman and Julia Roberts
		Best Supporting Actor - Clive Owen
		Best Supporting Actress - Natalie Portman
2005	Online Film Critics Society	Best Screenplay, Adapted - Patrick Marber
		Best Supporting Actor - Clive Owen
		Best Supporting Actress - Natalie Portman
2005	Satellite Award	Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Drama - Clive Owen
		Best Actress in a Supporting Role, Drama - Natalie Portman
		Best Film Editing - John Bloom and Antonia Van Drimmelen
		Best Screenplay, Adapted - Patrick Marber
2005	Teen Choice Awards	Choice Movie Actress: Drama - Natalie Portman

Trivia

• Tagline: If you believe in love at first sight, you never stop looking.
• Owen starred in the play as "Dan", the role assumed by Law in the film.
• Natalie Portman reportedly shot full-frontal nude scenes for when her character is stripping for Clive Owen's character, Larry. However she and the director, Mike Nichols, decided to cut these shots out of the film. This is possibly, however, another instance of the kind of viral marketing such as that involving the nudity of Anne Hathaway in Havoc.
• According to imdb.com, Roberts, more accustomed to romantic comedies, reportedly had difficulty making her lines sound authentic. Portman, more experienced with such dialogue, purchased a delicate necklace, had it engraved with the word "Cunt," and gave it to Roberts to help break the tension. It worked, and when the production wrapped Roberts said 'thank you' by giving Portman a similar necklace, engraved "Li'l Cunt." [link]
• Shahin Badar's vocals can be heard in the soundtrack.
• The band Panic! at the Disco's 2005 debut album included songs called "Lying is the Most Fun a Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off" and "But it's Better if You Do", a direct reference to a line spoken by Natalie Portman's character. ("Lying is the most fun a girl can have without taking her clothes off, but it's better if you do.")

Notes

External links

• [Official website]
• [Stage to Screen: Getting "Closer"] from Playbill

 

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