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Closer

Closer

Drama · Romance · 2004

The relationships of two couples become complicated and deceitful when the man from one couple meets the woman of the other.

Movie details

Closer

“If you believe in love at first sight, you never stop looking.”

2004 Drama · Romance 1h 44m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

6.8 / 10

Community rating

The relationships of two couples become complicated and deceitful when the man from one couple meets the woman of the other.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Closer?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

Madame Bovary

Madame Bovary

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In 19th-century France, doctor's wife Emma Bovary seeks to escape her dull provincial life through various extramarital affairs and extravagant spending, leading to tragic consequences.

Inventing the Abbotts

Inventing the Abbotts

Drama · 1997

In the 1950s, brothers Jacey and Doug Holt, who come from the poorer side of their sleepy Midwestern town, vie for the affections of the wealthy, lovely Abbott sisters. Lady-killer Jacey alternates between Eleanor and Alice, wanting simply to break the hearts of rich young women. But sensitive Doug has a real romance with Pamela, which Jacey and the Abbott patriarch, Lloyd, both frown upon.

Stealing Home

Stealing Home

Drama · 1988

Billy Wyatt, a former high school and minor-league baseball player, receives a telephone call from his mother revealing that his former child-sitter, and later in his teens, his first love, Katie Chandler, has died. Wyatt returns home to deal with this tragedy, reminiscing over his childhood growing up with his father, Katie, and best friend Alan Appleby.

The Last Time I Saw Paris

The Last Time I Saw Paris

Drama · 1954

Reporter Charles Wills, in Paris to cover the end of World War II, falls for the beautiful Helen Ellswirth following a brief flirtation with her sister, Marion. After he and Helen marry, Charles pursues his novelistic ambition while supporting his new bride with a deadening job at a newspaper wire service. But when an old investment suddenly makes the family wealthy, their marriage begins to unravel — until a sudden tragedy changes everything.

Blind

Blind

Drama · 2017

A novelist is blinded in a car crash that killed his wife and several years later rediscovers his passion for life and writing when he embarks on an affair with the neglected wife of an indicted businessman.

Newness

Newness

Romance · 2017

In contemporary Los Angeles, two millennials navigating a social media–driven hookup culture begin a relationship that pushes both emotional and physical boundaries.

The Burning Plain

The Burning Plain

Drama · 2008

A trailer is burning in the middle of a plain. The bodies of two adulterous lovers are found. Scenes from both families, before and after the dramatic events, suggest an unusual connection between them. But what is their secret?

Maestro

Maestro

Drama · 2023

A towering and fearless love story chronicling the lifelong relationship between Leonard Bernstein and Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein. A love letter to life and art, Maestro at its core is an emotionally epic portrayal of family and love.

Third Person

Third Person

Drama · 2014

An acclaimed novelist struggles to write an analysis of love in one of three stories, each set in a different city, that detail the beginning, middle and end of a relationship.

Brief Encounter

Brief Encounter

Drama · 1945

Returning home from a shopping trip to a nearby town, bored suburban housewife Laura Jesson is thrown by happenstance into an acquaintance with virtuous doctor Alec Harvey. Their casual friendship soon develops during their weekly visits into something more emotionally fulfilling than either expected, and they must wrestle with the potential havoc their deepening relationship would have on their lives and the lives of those they love.

Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Mike Nichols

Written by

Patrick Marber

Jude Law

Jude Law

Dan

Natalie Portman

Natalie Portman

Alice

Julia Roberts

Julia Roberts

Anna

Clive Owen

Clive Owen

Larry

Colin Stinton

Colin Stinton

Customs Officer

Nick Hobbs

Nick Hobbs

Taxi Driver

S

Steve Benham

Car Driver (uncredited)

Court is in session

Put Closer on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Sentimental Softie

“Sincerity is not manipulation.”

The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.

The prosecution The Cool Ironist

“The strings are showing.”

Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.