Closer
(Columbia)

There’s a lot of talking in Closer, but I’m not sure if I care. Mike Nichols directs Clive Owen, Natalie Portman, Julia Roberts and Jude Law in this tale of love and infidelity that follows the intertwining lives and loves of the four principals. While posing for a photo shoot, Law makes a pass at the photographer (Roberts) and sets off a chain of events that leads to a great deal of pleasure and (mostly) pain. Partners change and change again. There’s lots of anger, tears, deception and verbal cruelty. Sudden leaps in time leave you wondering (albeit momentarily) how many months or years have elapsed since the previous scene, or if you’re witnessing a flashback. The actors are all good – particularly Owen and Portman and their descriptions of sexual activity make up for the lack of it onscreen, yet in the end I found it hard to care about any of them, as no one seemed all that likeable or sympathetic. Fascinating but flawed.