• Genre: Drama
• MPAA Rating: R
• AMG Rating:
• Regional Coding: ABC
  Unspecified

Patrick Marber's acclaimed stage drama about the romantic interactions of four people has been given a reverent screen adaptation by director and producer Mike Nichols. Dan (Jude Law) is a writer in London who wants to finish a novel, but in the meantime supports himself by writing obituaries. One day he chances upon Alice (Natalie Portman), a beautiful young American expatriate, working as a stripper, when he sees her get hit by a car. Alice immediately falls for Dan, and gives him her love without reservation. Dan is initially enchanted with Alice, and returns her affection, but while she inspires him to write his novel (based on her life), her neediness begins to wear on him. Anna (Julia Roberts) is a photographer who is hired to take a portrait of Dan for the dust jacket of his book; Dan is attracted to her easy confidence, and while the two of them flirt, Anna soon (inadvertently through Dan's playful machinations) meets Larry (Clive Owen), a dermatologist, and marries him. Dan can't get Anna out of his mind even though she's married, and the two become lovers, but Dan is frustrated by the fact that Anna is reluctant to leave Larry for him. Patrick Marber wrote the screenplay for this adaptation of Closer; it was the playwright's first feature-film credit. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Bonus Features

• Music Video: "The Blower's Daughter" by Damien Rice

Actors

Julia Roberts, Jude Law, Natalie Portman, Clive Owen

Director

Mike Nichols

Producer

Cary Brokaw, John Calley, Mike Nichols

Nudity, Adult Situations, Strong Sexual Content, Not For Children, Profanity

• Sound : DD5.1
• Language : Eng/Italian/Fre/Rus
• Subtitles : Eng/Fre/Italian/Spa/Por/

[None Specified]

Review

Mike Nichols has always possessed a superior ear for dialogue and, more importantly, the rhythm of dialogue. This is what makes him arguably the finest film director of stage works (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Wit, Angels in America). Closer is yet another accomplished film to add to that list. Patrick Marber's play has been opened up visually, but the story remains about the intense relationships between four people who sleep with each other, lie to each other, and -- quite often -- lie to themselves. Clive Owen finds every dimension in his alpha-male character. During one of the many arguments in this film he shouts, "I am a caveman!" Never for a second does the audience question that sliver of self-revelation. Jude Law manages a performance so full of charm and self-loathing that he undercuts his work in Alfie from the same year. However, it is the women that surprise. Julia Roberts became a star after Pretty Woman, and although she tried to shake that image with a series of brave artistic choices in the mid-'90s, she eventually accepted her status wholeheartedly and appeared in a string of pieces shaped to her persona (My Best Friend's Wedding, Notting Hill, and winning the Oscar for Erin Brockovich). As Anna in Closer, Roberts shows not an ounce of movie-star self-consciousness. She is in character at all times, unconcerned with her image. The character is weak and selfish, and Roberts plays it unflinchingly without ever asking the audience for sympathy. It is hard to believe she had a performance like this in her. Last but not least, Natalie Portman announces with this film that she is an adult -- and an actress of the highest caliber. She can play girlish -- smiling and giggling with what appears to be genuine puppy love -- although she is no longer a girl. This character understands how her physicality (something much more than just her sexuality) affects the people around her, and Portman acts with every ounce of herself. The character may well be unknowable to the other characters and to the audience -- but Portman understands her inside and out. With his superior timing, Nichols allows each of these actors to hit every funny, cruel, and intimate moment in the script. Closer is a well-written, well-directed, and well-acted exercise in making cruel people compulsively watchable. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

• Release Date : May 22, 2007
• Length : 104 Minutes
• Dvdsides : 1
• Dvddiscs : 1
• Upc : 043396194366