Getting 'Closer'

Last night we rented Mike Nichol's Closer. It is no surprise to that this film was based on a play, and that the play's author Patrick Marber wrote the screenplay, as the dialogue was the focal point and it came out sharp and fast. This is something quite rare as even the most dialogue-intense movies rarely reach this level of sophistication, which is more common on stage than it is in the cineplex.

The film unravels over the space of four years (I think) and details the lives of four characters as they fall in and out of love/bed with each other. The film doesn't condescend to its audience by announcing the temporal shifts - rather it leaves the viewer unaware for a moment or two before the characters reveal whether they are involved with one partner or the other before detailing what transpired in the period between scenes.

This film has been billed as a drama/romance, but don't go into it thinking it that this will be something of a doubled Four Weddings and a Funeral-style romp describing the amours of an English man and an American woman. While the male leads are Brits and female are Yanks in both and both films describe twisting and evolving relationships over a long-ish period of time the similarities end there. There is no redemption or happy ending in 'Closer'. All characters are burned by their interaction and there is no guarantee that anyone lives happily ever after.

Brilliantly scripted and superbly acted by all four leads - particularly Clive Owens who comes across as positively grotesque, but not a caricature, I would have no problem recommending this movie, although I know that not everyone share's my opinion. I really wish, though, that I had seen the play.
rgsc.