Closer (film)
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| Directed by | Mike Nichols |
| Written by | Patrick Marber (play & screenplay) |
| Starring | Jude Law Clive Owen Natalie Portman Julia Roberts |
| Distributed by | Sony Pictures Entertainment |
Release date | December 3 2004 (USA) |
Running time | 98 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $27 million[1] |
Closer is a 2004 film written by Patrick Marber, based on his award-winning play of the same name. It was directed by Mike Nichols and stars Julia Roberts, Natalie Portman, Clive Owen, and Jude Law in a story involving infidelity, intimacy and sacrifice.
The film, like the play on which it is based, has been seen by some as a modern and tragic version of Mozart's opera Così fan tutte, with references to that opera in both the plot and the soundtrack.[2]
Clive Owen starred in the 1997 play Closer as "Dan", the role assumed by Jude Law in the film.
The film was recognized with a number of awards and nominations, including Oscar nominations for both Portman and Owen for their performances in supporting roles.
Synopsis
In the opening scene, a twenty year old Alice Ayres, (played by Portman), and Dan Woolf, (played by Law), see each other for the first time from opposite sides of a street, as they are walking toward each other amongst many other rush hour pedestrians. Alice is a young American stripper who just arrived in London, and 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 afterward, on the way to his office, they stop by Postman's Park, the same park 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. 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). Anna shares a kiss with Dan before finding out that Dan and Alice are in a relationship. Alice arrives and later 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,[3] 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 accidentally at the strip club and is convinced that she is the girl 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. Dan guesses and Anna confesses it to Dan, 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 back to 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 doesn't 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 it's over and tells him to leave. This leads to a heated argument ending with Alice spitting in Dan's face saying that she is no one and Dan replying with a slap.
In the end, Alice returns to New York. 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 Rachel Jones and that she had lied about her name for the duration of her four-year relationship with Dan.
Back in London, Dan returns to Postman's Park, and to his surprise notices the name "Alice Ayres" on a plaque that is dedicated to a girl, who "by an intrepid act," had sacrificed her young life to save three children. The last scene films Alice/Jane, walking on 47th Street in Manhattan, independent and free, turning the heads of many men as she walks; a scene symmetrical with the opening scence where Alice/Jane and Dan are staring at eachother on the streets of London.
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. There is also a graphic discussion that takes place between Larry and Anna when he realises she is going to leave him for Dan: he forces her to relate the sex she has just had with Dan including a description of fellatio and orgasm. What Larry wants is for Anna to admit Dan is better than him in bed; when she finally does this, he stops, satisfied.
The film deals primarily with the nature of human relationships, dealing with the need of each main character to intimately know and own his or her lover. In the multiple scenes about adultery, betrayed lovers demand to know exactly what happened and are crushed that there is now an aspect of their lover that they will never know or understand. However, the characters are complex individuals who are constantly changing, as the tagline of the film echoes. People cannot be simplified in a dynamic relationship in the same way they must be written off by an obituary writer or superficially examined by a dermatologist, photographer, or paying but not touching customer. This theme is tied in with the motifs of truth and lying, and the effects of both in relationships are juxtaposed through the relationships of the main characters. In the end, Natalie Portman's character shows how little we can truly know about those we love and how transient they can be, and in the end she is the only character who remains independent and unscathed.
Other motifs in the film include smoking and fish.[4]
Box office
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.[1] 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.[1]
Blu-ray Release
Closer was released exclusively on the high-definition Blu-ray Disc on May 22, 2007.
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 Film 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 |
References In Music
- More recently, lines from "Closer" have been used in songs from bands like Panic! At The Disco and Fall Out Boy. A line spoken by Natalie Portman's character ("Lying is the most fun a girl can have without taking her clothes off, but its better if you do.") was broken up into titles for Panic! At The Disco's songs "Lying Is The Most Fun A Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off" and "But It's Better If You Do", from their album A Fever You Can't Sweat Out.
- Fall Out Boy also included quotes in songs from their album Infinity On High. On "Thnks Fr Th Mmrs" the line "he tastes like you, only sweeter" is used in the chorus. In the B-side track "G.I.N.A.S.F.S." (Gay Is Not A Synonym For Shitty), the song opens up with the line "I've loved everything about you that hurts."
- 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. The opening notes from Rice's song "Cold Water" are used repeatedly. Rice wrote a song entitled "Closer" which was intended for use in the film, but was not completed in time.
- The Canadian rock band Silverstein has a song entitled "Fist Wrapped In Blood", a reference to a scene in which Clive Owen's character compares a human heart to such a fist.
- The opera that Dan and Anna attend is Mozart's Così fan tutte, the plot of which bears resemblances to that of the film.
Cultural References
The series of photos of "strangers" taken by Julia Roberts's photographer character are in fact all photos of prominent contemporary philosophers taken from a series by Steve Pyke Visible in the film are Karl Popper, John McDowell, Peter Geach and G. E. M. Anscombe (together), and Phillipa Foot.
Notes
- ^ a b c "boxofficemojo.com". Closer (2004).
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|accessmonthday=ignored (help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ "Così fan tutte and the Shock of the Now" by Daniel Felsenfeld, Nov 08, 2006
- ^ The scene at the photo exhibition is the only one where all four characters are seen together.
- ^ CLOSER by Peter Keough, Issue Date: December 3 - 9, 2004