The four main characters in this movie, Roberts’ Anna, Owen’s Larry, Portman’s Alice, and Law’s Daniel, fall out of love more easily than they fall in love. The couples meet through a series of complicated (and unlikely) chance encounters. First is the boy meets girl after witnessing her getting hit by a cab, then the girl meets boy when hired to take his headshots for his book jacket, the boy meets girl after thinking he has had internet sex with her, and finally the girl meets boy at photo exhibit while studying a portrait of herself.
Characters Over Time
We get “closer” glimpses of their lives as time zips by in this movie. We jump from Alice’s accident to a year later when Daniel has written a book about his now girlfriend’s sordid past as a stripper. Then we jump to Anna’s exhibit months after her photo shoot with Daniel, who fell in love with the photographer within minutes of meeting her. At this point, Anna and Larry have begun dating, but Larry is well-aware of Daniel’s ongoing interest in Anna. Alice is also keenly sensitive to this, but she foolishly chooses to trust him.
These four lives could not be more twisted or oddly connected. A year later, when we discover that Larry and Anna have married, Daniel attempts to break up with Alice, warning her coolly, “This will hurt,” before he breaks the news of his affair with Anna. The same night, Larry returns from a business trip to tell Anna that he slept with a “whore” while in New York. Anna retaliates by confessing her love for Daniel. It’s all very exhausting.
The convoluted relationships don’t stop there. Alice and Larry meet up in a strip joint; Anna and Larry have one last fling before signing divorce papers. Daniel flips out after learning of this tryst and seeks out Alice again. In the end, Alice will leave Daniel broken hearted, and Larry will win back Anna, who never sends the divorce papers to her lawyer.
How anyone could lead such messed-up, depressing lives is difficult to imagine. The premise is very unlikely, but the actors embody their characters so lovingly, that it is difficult to not root for every one of them. Amazingly, the low-life stripper ends up being the most intelligent of them all. Dr. Larry (a dermatologist) is by far the dumbest of the four. Daniel is just pathetic, and Anna is simply cold-hearted.
Movie Versus Play
Love can (and does!) exist – even in dreary, grey London – but not for these characters. This is not a group of people most of us would long to hang out with. Closer was originally a Broadway play, which debuted and closed in 1999. Having never seen the play, one can only imagine that watching actors live this out on stage would be even more depressing.
 |
