Closer

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. (28/09/2011)

An intimately conceived romantic drama, clearly inspired by the theatrical version, whose success is supported by excellent dialogues, a quality screenplay, and top-notch acting performances. Since the film is based on a play, a significant part of the story takes place indoors, somewhat resembling a more expensive television production. All four of the engaged stars deserve the highest rating for their performance, although Julia Roberts lags behind just a bit. It is reliably directed by the experienced Mike Nichols, with visually appealing shots of Natalie Portman dressed as a stripper, which will be sure to attract male viewers. Compared to the theatrical version, the film concludes much more sentimentally and romantically. Overall impression: 90%. (21/06/2006)

A quite pleasantly tangled story that focuses on one of the still burning topics - sexuality. What do we actually want and what do we dare to demand? Are our desires accessible to others? Can we share them without people looking at us weirdly? Do we still understand what love really is and can we fall in love? "Closer" is a film about four people whose lives interconnect. Sometimes too much, sometimes only briefly, but the consequences can be more serious. Two Americans and two Englishmen. Their lives come together and then separate again. Who is actually dating whom? And who is sleeping with whom? After a while, one starts to feel that they start to combine with each other regardless of gender. Julia Roberts is a photographer who doesn't know whom she really wants. Jude Law is a young and promising writer who doesn't know whom he really wants. Clive Owen is a doctor who knows what he wants and also gets it. He describes himself as a primitive. And he actually is a little bit. And finally, Natalie Portman. What is she actually? Just a woman who loves? Or is there more to her? What is she hiding from? Her boyfriend? Or from the man who became her customer for one night at a strip club? Relationships between people are very complicated, but only because we complicate them ourselves. We demand certain values that are completely senseless, while we ourselves behave completely differently. Can we still be happy? Or do we just live a life that goes from birth to death without finding true happiness? This film, although it may not seem so, is actually quite disturbing. It doesn't deal with the apocalypse of the world, but with the apocalypse of mankind. More: http://www.filmovy-denik.cz/2012/10/ztraceno-v-prekladu-4-bratri-na-dotek.html (01/03/2013)

For me it was disappointing. Nichols shoots beautifully and the actors give their all to their roles, but the script shows almost no attempt at a deeply dramatic epic or plot loop. The characters swim in an ocean of titillating sexual fantasy, but the average viewer sort of stands on the shore and hopes to at least drool over a naked Queen Padmé or Pretty Woman, but we never get that, unfortunately, even though Natalie has a lot of talent as a stripper. (16/08/2017)

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. (23/03/2005)