Closer | |
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Theatrical release poster
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Directed by | Mike Nichols |
Produced by | Mike Nichols Cary Brokaw John Calley |
Written by | Patrick Marber |
Based on |
Closer by Patrick Marber |
Starring |
Julia Roberts Jude Law Natalie Portman Clive Owen |
Music by | Suzana Peric |
Cinematography | Stephen Goldblatt |
Edited by |
John Bloom Antonia Van Drimmelen |
Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release date
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Running time
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104 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $27 million |
Box office | $115,505,027 |
Closer is a 2004 American melodrama film written by Patrick Marber, based on his award-winning 1997 play of the same name. The movie was produced and directed by Mike Nichols and stars Julia Roberts, Jude Law, Natalie Portman and Clive Owen. The film, like the play on which it is based, has been seen by some as a modern and tragic version of Mozart's opera Così fan tutte, with references to the opera in both the plot and the soundtrack. Owen starred in the play as Dan, the role played by Law in the film.
The film was recognized with a number of awards and nominations, including Oscar nominations and Golden Globe wins for both Portman and Owen for their performances in supporting roles.
In the opening scene, 24-year-old Alice Ayres (Natalie Portman) and Dan Woolf (Jude Law) see each other for the first time from opposite sides of a street as they are walking toward each other among many other rush hour pedestrians. Alice is a young American stripper who just arrived in London, and Dan is an unsuccessful British author who is on his way to work where he writes obituaries for a newspaper. Alice looks in the wrong direction as she crosses the street and is hit by a taxi cab right in front of Dan's eyes. After he rushes to her side she smiles to him and says, "Hello, stranger." He takes her to the hospital where Alice is treated and released. Afterward, on the way to his office, they stop by Postman's Park, the same park that he and his father visited after his mother's death. Pausing in front of the office before he leaves her and goes to work, Dan reminds her that traffic in England tends to come on from the right, and on impulse, he asks her for her name. They soon become lovers.