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Closer

Thursday, 21 April 2005 ‡ 08:37

Set in London, a chance meeting between Dan^?, an aspiring novelist who writes obituaries for a living and Alice^? an angelic looking New Yorker, alone in London, who refer's to herself as a waif. When Dan accompany's Alice to the hospital after she is knocked down and hurt, Dan finds it difficult to continue his journey to work and leave Alice all on her own; this the beginning of their passionate and obviously very sexual relationship. This relationship builds Dan's confidence and although Alice has shown she is insecure and has lied about who she is, she is the most genuine of all the characters.

A confident Dan is now determined to have a relationship with Anna^?, a successful photographer and recent divorcee. Alice recognises Dan's feelings for Anna, but says nothing to Dan, but does let Anna know that she overheard their conversation. Dan deals with Anna's initial rejection by pretending to be her while explicitly chatting to a stranger in an internet chat room, where he arranges a meet between Anna and the stranger, Larry^? the Doctor.

Larry, a smart, confident dermatologist, arrives at the meeting place and instantly recognises Anna from her large mouth and blonde hair description. He begins his conversation with a sexual remark, continuing from where it ended with Dan in the internet chat room. Confusingly Anna questions Larry's comments and audience's initial fears of Larry making a total pillock of himself do not occur, which in real live may have been a lot worse than a couple of retorts from Anna. As soon as Anna discovers Larry was chatting to Dan and begins to tell Larry, they too start a relationship.

I don't know if this was intentional by the writer, but the successful photographer rejects a friend and failed novelist, but later accepts to build a relationship with a professional and a stranger she meets by chance.

Alice appears to be insecure, but tries showing a careless attitude towards relationships, though she is very direct and to the point whoever she is talking to. Dan lacks confidence, until his relationship with Alice, is very emotional and appears not to commit to relationships. Julia comes across as very cold and uninviting, though i feel she was cast as 'the attractive woman' in this film. Larry is very brutal and appears to require honesty from a relationship, though may not be too honest himself, he is probably typical of most blokes in what they initially want from a relationship, sex.

This has now established the characters in this film and now begins the interrelationships between them. For me, this was a fairly dull and uninteresting film, though it was well written and filmed. The cast is very strong and i think this could have been Natalie Portman's first major film in a very adult role. With such strong actors in Law, Roberts and Owen, Portman does well in her acting and character performance.