Closer (2004)

Netflix reviewers largely did not like this film! One-star ratings with descriptions like "horrendous," "waste of time," and "utter garbage" fill page upon page of written reviews. But five-star reviews seem to balance them out to the three-star average. Personally, I found the movie to be extremely well written and acted. I give it five stars, hands down. Its dialogue rings so lean and true, every word so spare and Hemingwayesque, that I had to own it. I think some people's problem with Closer is that it deals with unpleasant topics and settings: unfaithfulness and even a strip club. Make no mistake, I find such things extremely distasteful too; but I can face them, follow the drama (especially when it is complex), and discern the moral of the story -- which is the whole point after all. The best drama and lessons are born of conflict, if a reader or viewer is mature enough to follow the story and grasp the moral. The moral of Closer is that selfishness and the inability to keep a promise (unfaithfulness) can begin small (with a plea for a kiss) and spin centripetally larger until it grows cyclically out of control, because every lie, as with every relationship, involves and affects those who know you. This film is a moral laboratory for what can go wrong in (how not to do) a relationship. The women characters (Julia Roberts and Natalie Portman) are pretty much exemplars for moral choices (though Natalie plays a stripper, she hints at a complexity born of pain or abuse, so she is doing the best she can with the hand she has been dealt). The male characters, Clive Owens but particularly Jude Law, are reprehensibly amoral in their inability to commit to one woman -- to win and then to keep her. For them, it is always about the chase, the challenge, and the greener grass. They can't keep hold of happiness so they end up sowing devastation. Five stars.