Closer, entre adultes consentants

Pour un film hollywoodien avec un casting de premier plan, Closer est assez audacieux dans ses thèmes, son langage et sa représentation de la sexualité. Le quatuor d'acteurs principaux offre une performance brillante, et en particulier Clive Owen, qui semble savourer son rôle et le joue avec brio. Cela dit, j'ai été un peu perturbé par le fait qu'à cause de sa longueur et de la cyclicité de son intrigue, le film soit légèrement répétitif, surtout dans la seconde moitié, et par les sauts temporels qui sont souvent assez brutaux. Un drame bien réalisé, mais j'aurais pu l'imaginer encore plus abouti. [KVIFF 2024] (07/07/2024)

Telenovela pour les plus exigeants. Provocante, audacieuse, glissante, intelligemment réalisée (en raison des possibilités intérieures) et surtout incroyablement jouée. Amour, faux-semblants, intrigues, vengeance. Dans la dernière partie, il y a un peu trop - une dose de recul serait utile. (23/03/2005)

“Where is the love?” Scenes from relationship life for the 21st century. Nichols does not in any way try to disguise the film’s theatrical origins; on the contrary, the chosen structure (several long conversational segments), perfectly timed dialogue and classical music accentuate them. It is only after the encounter at the exhibition that he begins to cut between the individual couples’ dialogue scenes, thus giving the impression that their stories are more closely intertwined and influence each other to the point that they cannot be together because of the others (the flashback to the signing of divorce papers, which is interspersed with Dan and Anna’s conversation in the theatre, serves the same purpose). I consider the big jumps in time, which we are usually informed about ex post and as if in passing through dialogue (we’ve been dating for four months, we got together a year ago, he left me three months ago...) to be a courageous decision, as they bring the film closer to a time-lapse documentary that captures only the turning points of relationships. Unlike Bergman, however, Closer is not a carefully nuanced psychological drama, but a contrived melodrama full of walking (arche)types, “chance” encounters and bookish-sounding lines, and throughout its runtime, I wasn't sure to what extent it was aware of its own exaggeration and unnaturalness or the extent to which it was convinced that it was revealing the unvarnished truth about love and relationships, or something along those lines. Many scenes, such as the bitter conclusion, graphically illustrating the fact that we often truly get to know even the most beloved person after they have left us (i.e. when it is too late), suggest that the simplistic characterisation of the characters was a way to convey a universal, almost allegorical story in which everyone who has ever experienced the ambivalent feeling of not knowing whether to kill or fuck the one you love (as in the last dialogue scene of Dan and Larry) can see themselves. So, there is some sort of life lesson to be learned from that. Personally, however, I prefer films that don’t pretend to have depth where there is none. 70% (22/02/2017)

When a relationship is a personal danger and the thought of a more serious commitment suddenly becomes unpleasant. Nichols knows how to implant an unbearable bug of uncertainty and ignorance over loved ones and thus sounds the alarm about the meaning of their search. Sometimes you just don't want to know everything about the other person, and only a minute after midnight will you realize what was the key aspect of 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. By touch - but without it. Emotional mess, but cinematic perfection. (17/07/2005)

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. (11/02/2011)