Closer

When a relationship is a personal threat and the thought of a more serious commitment suddenly becomes unpleasant. Mike Nichols knows how to implant an unbearable bug of uncertainty and ignorance about the people you love, thus sounding the alarm about the purpose of their search. Sometimes you simply don't want to know everything about the other person, and only at the eleventh hour will you realize the key aspect behind your emotions – the mystery of the other. And then it's too late to avoid all the cruelties because no matter what you say now, nothing will ever be the same. You will lose yourself and yet still be close. Closer – but still not there. An emotional mess, but cinematic perfection. (07/17/2005)

A huge disappointment for me, unfortunately... the whole thing was chaotic and above all insanely sleazy. The only one who kept her poise in my eyes was Julia Roberts. So overdone and needlessly depressed. Clive Owen was completely unappealing here and Natalie Portman seemed so flaccid. Jude Law was once again a little off... Even though the film was up for 4 stars, I'm only giving 3 and will try to forget the whole thing. (02/11/2011)

A soap opera for discerning viewers. Provocative, impudent, sleazy, artfully filmed (with respect to the possibilities of the interior sets) and, mainly, fantastically acted. Love, deceit, intrigue, revenge. But there is a little too much of that in the last third – a bit of detached humor would have helped. (03/23/2005)

(KVIFF 2024) Closer is intimate romantic drama, artfully written and with believable performances, centered around a love quadrangle and somewhat volatile 'climaxes'. All four actors do their roles to perfection, with Clive Owen nailing it the most. I was a little distracted by the time jumps at first, but you notice this almost immediately. Closer is very sensual film, without any explicit sex scenes – there’s ample use of spicy dialogue (and chats). One of the good things is that you basically have no idea until the very end how geometrical a constellation the whole story will reach. (07/05/2024)

Sexually open, but not explicit (on a verbal level only). The acting quartet is impressive, the individual actors remarkably type-matched to their characters, and the overall performance comes across as a little over-the-top in places, but impressive theatrically. Some of the dialogue is very peppy, but there’s a good deal of justification in its bluntness and crudeness if you can identify with the individual characters and empathize with their feelings, at least for a moment. A cruel, cynical, and very enlightening drama with excellent directing and outstanding performances. My first Mike Nichols. (09/28/2011)