closer, 2005?

daniel? = jude law, obituary writer
alice = natalie portman, stripper
anna = julia roberts, photographer
larry? = clive owen?, dermatologist

takes place in london mostly.
scene: daniel and alice with eyes with flirtatious glances while they're walking down the street. they eventually meet as alice gets hit by a cabbie.
she's really sweet, but upfront about being a stripper.
[about a year elapses]
daniel getting photos done for this book about alice's life. anna is shooting it, and daniel makes moves on her. they kiss. (julia roberts looks _great_, more gentle, fragile than i remembered her fr before) anna's separated?, and even tho daniel's still pushing for them meeting again, anna says he's taken.
alice overhears conversation, and cries at the window, with anna taking that shot.
anna didn't like the title, and suggested _the aquarium_, which he does change it to.

we don't know larry until daniel is on some online chat, pretending he's anna, and sends larry to meet her at the aquarium. it's her birthday, and he gets her a porpoise balloon.
[about a year elapses]
anna has her exhibit, and daniel and alice both go. anna and larry are dating. daniel's father died?, and he just wants a night by himself away fr alice. but sends alice off in a cab, while he goes inside and tries to convince anna that she loves him. she says she doesn't to his face, and he says it's a lie. but he leaves. there's some disharmony betw anna and larry.
[another year goes by]
daniel comes thru the door and tells alice that he and anna have been having a thing since the exhibition. she cries, says why can't love be enough? and it almost seems like they're going to get stuck together, but while she sends him to make tea, she takes off. he chases her but can't find her.
meanwhile larry comes back fr a derm conference. they're married now.
he comes down dressed b/c he tells her that he slept with a whore in nyc. and she's been looking strained all this time and finally lets him know that she and daniel have had this thing for the last year. he's really mean - yelling, and wanting to know the gory details about the sex. where, how many times did she come, was he a better lover.

[3 months go by]
larry is at a strip bar and meets up with alice.
she makes stripping look fun. wear interesting outfits, people give you money, can't touch you, etc.
he cries over how anna doesn't even want to see him. but he seems like a horny animal. and alice seems cold.

[4 months total go by]
anna meets daniel at the opera house. she had just met up with larry for lunch so that he could sign the divorce papers. they're really cute.
but while he's in the bathroom, he realizes that she slept with larry.
larry at lunch wanted her back, said that he would sign if she would give her body to him. and she did.
she didn't lie to daniel (should she have?), and did tell him. she said she could see the love slip away. that if he loved her, he'd forgive her. and she did it b/c otw larry wouldn't leave them alone. daniel said she did it b/c she was a coward.

[some time, maybe the 8 months remaining of that year]
daniel runs into larry's derm office, soaking wet. daniel wants anna back, but anna's gone back to larry. she didn't even mail the divorce papers. daniel's distraught. he said that he slept with anna that time b/c if what he knew it would do to daniel.
larry says that he met alice accidentally. then as daniel was leaving, he said that he slept with her, b/c he wasn't good enough to withold that info.

[4 years total since the beginning of the movie]
renaissance hotel, daniel and alice are in their room, being very cute and affectionate. but daniel still obsessed over her possibly sleeping with larry.
so he says, did you sleep with him? and she won't answer. he leaves, saying he wants a smoke, sees himself in the mirror and how horrible he looks, and then comes back, plucking a red rose that he saw in the hallway.
he says it doesn't matter.
and she says: i don't love you anymore. it's gone. she didn't want to lie to him, but didn't want to tell the truth either. that they did fuck, that she did like it and did come. but that she preferred daniel. she asks him to leave, he gets upset, and strikes her.

shot of larry and anna in bed. larry sleeping, with book in hand, anna removing it and turning off the light. turning the other way, still thinking.

she's going thru customs by herself, as Jane Jones. next shot of her walking down the street, turning heads in nyc.

he's in the memorial site, and notices that there's a plaque saying "alice ayres" on the wall.

thoughts:
alice/jane is an interesting character. her views of love ("love is not a war") seem pure, but not innocent. very well played by portman. she loved daniel without doubt until that exact moment in the hotel room. and then it was gone.

anna: did seem like a coward. when in fight with larry, she did mention that she's been hit before. he said it wouldn't be by him. interesting that daniel was the person who struck a woman. loved her photography scene - white, linear, slightly masculine but still a very feminine grace - efficient

larry: i didn't like as he just seemed like a horn dog. but gotta respect that he got what he wanted - whether that be a stable derm practice with an acceptable wife. dunno.

daniel: i don't like jude law in general. but he loved anna, was too weak to leave alice. still loved anna, and couldn't get over the sex thing and keep her. and then went crawling back to alice, and couldn't keep her either.

where is love in all of this? dunno. i guess with alice, but it'd be hard to love like that as it's so ephemereal(sp?). or at least until you find the right dude. larry and anna's gets it on the comfortable, low burn kind of love. and daniel is kind of the kicked puppy, luckless writer. but there's some courage in that i suppose.

liked the movie, definitely very engaging. of course dealing with a topic that's close to everyone's heart. not quite an unhappy ending, perhaps a somewhat realistic one. ?

music: fits the sort of nebulous, somewhat unsatisfying and yet sort of hitting the right spots like the movie. video with damien rice is kind of weird. just some dude that's staring at a woman looking out into the ocean. and of course the last line is - can't get my mind off of you... until i find another. true, but sad and somewhat of a betrayal.

context:
fri night with pizza. :> by self, boli's and movie time. had made some headway while studying during the day while at VA addictions. really wanted to unwind a bit, pick something that i could wonder thru the aisles and get. a had recommended it.
just watched in room, on laptop with stuttered playing sequence.
um, it's late/early. eek.
- posted by B @ 12:44 AM