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Movie Profile
Closer
2004 ยท United States - Mike Nichols
In the opening scene, a girl (Natalie Portman) and a young man (Jude Law) see each other for the first time from opposite sides of a street in London. The girl looks in the wrong direction as she crosses the street and is hit by a taxicab right in front of the young man. He rushes over; she smiles at him and says, "hello, stranger". He takes her to a hospital, where she is treated and released. Afterward, on the way to his office, they stop by Postman's Park. Here they introduce each other: she is 20 years old and has just arrived in London from the United States where she had been stripping for a living; he's Dan Woolf, an unsuccessful aspiring British writer who is on his way to work, where he writes obituaries for a national newspaper. Before he leaves her and goes to work, he asks her for her name and she answers Alice Ayres. They soon start a relationship. A year later, 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 (Julia Roberts). Anna shares a kiss with Dan before finding out that Dan and Alice are in a relationship. Alice arrives and borrows Anna's bathroom, leaving Anna and Dan alone again. Dan takes the chance to try to persuade Anna into having an affair with him, but is cut short by Alice's return. Alice asks Anna if she can have her portrait taken as well. Anna agrees and Alice asks Dan to leave them alone during the photo shooting. 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.
Genres:
Drama, Romance, Family
Release date:
2004-12-03
External links:
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Rotten Tomatoes
20 Critic reviews
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Todd McCarthy
Variety
Like dramas by Pinter and others, what seems trenchant and perfectly pitched in the theater can come off as arch even when skillfully transferred to film.
March 19, 2009 read full article
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Peter Travers
Rolling Stone
Vibrates with eroticism, bruising laughs and dynamite performances from four attractive actors doing decidedly unattractive things.
March 07, 2005 read full article
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Robert Denerstein
Denver Rocky Mountain News
Closer has lots to offer: smart performances, archly funny dialogue and a feeling for the way a group of strangers can become so familiar that they're apt to rip one another to shreds.
December 11, 2004 read full article
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Terry Lawson
Detroit Free Press
If it makes you uncomfortable, or leaves you disturbed, it has only done its job.
December 11, 2004 read full article
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Lou Lumenick
New York Post
Impeccably acted and directed -- but quite icy.
December 11, 2004 read full article
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David Ansen
Newsweek
[A] chilly, caustic, foul-mouthed anatomy of modern romance.
December 11, 2004 read full article
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Ken Tucker
New York Magazine
Nichols is back, his instincts for intimacy as cutting as ever...
December 11, 2004 read full article
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Colin Covert
Minneapolis Star Tribune
There's not an American filmmaker who better understands the scheming perversity and self-deception lurking beneath our passions.
December 11, 2004 read full article
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Lisa Schwarzbaum
Entertainment Weekly
It does shock, I should say, in the way of men and women doing their psychological worst and most ruthless to push away those they have previously pulled close.
December 11, 2004 read full article
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Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
There's a creepy fascination in the way these four characters stage their affairs while occupying impeccable lifestyles.
December 11, 2004 read full article
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James Berardinelli
ReelViews
Not to be missed.
December 11, 2004 read full article
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Andrew Sarris
New York Observer
An extremely well-executed entertainment exclusively for grown-ups.
December 10, 2004 read full article
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Jack Mathews
New York Daily News
Despite four very strong performances, Closer is hard emotional work to sit through.
December 09, 2004 read full article
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John Anderson
Newsday
Bad Pinter meets bad Updike, dancing to the rat-a-tat rhythms of an ER episode.
December 09, 2004 read full article
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Anthony Lane
New Yorker
Owen alone, in Closer, rises to the challenge.
December 07, 2004 read full article
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Stephanie Zacharek
Salon.com
Feels so remote that it renders itself inconsequential.
December 03, 2004 read full article
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Mick LaSalle
San Francisco Chronicle
Closer has clever dialogue and scenes that are alive to all the treachery and nuance of sexual intrigue.
December 03, 2004 read full article
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Roger Moore
Orlando Sentinel
This smart and unsettling new Mike Nichols relationship drama follows two couples through the back alleys of love and commitment, with tour guides who don't seem to grasp what those words mean.
December 03, 2004 read full article
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Stephen Whitty
Newark Star-Ledger
It's not emotional closeness these connection junkies want. It's merely to close the deal and seal another conquest.
December 03, 2004 read full article
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Stephen Hunter
Washington Post
It's about getting closer, but the hurting part is about getting farther.
December 03, 2004 read full article
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