Close My Eyes

Close My Eyes

Close My Eyes

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The movie tells us about Richard and Natalie, a brother and a sister, who are having what could be called an 'affair'. When Natalie tries to end this and proposes to stay friends, Richard becomes aggressive. At the same time there appears another character, Richard's boss who has got AIDs and spends most of the time in the hospital. We also see Natalie's husband Sinclair, the only attractive character in the whole movie. I find the movie ridiculous. There is no general idea, no real plot, most characters are badly played and impossible to like. We never really find out what was the point of bringing in some things. The camera-work is however rather good and so is the music. The only reason to watch the movie again would be Alan Rickman as Sinclair - his good acting is even more obvious as compared to everybody else.

The film is really haunting and keeps you spellbound. While the film appears to portray sex scenes for nudity's sake, that's not really what is going on. Okay, okay, this is no Pulitzer Prize winner and Alan Rickman, Clive Owen, and Saskia Reeves can act better than they do in this movie. Butt, I think they each brought so much into the picture that other, less talented, actors would have failed to make this film work as well as it did. The dynamic between Natalie, her brother Richard, and her husband Sinclair is very strange. If you let yourself go and immerse yourself into the story, then you can enjoy it. The story is about very taboo subject matter, at the time when AIDS/HIV finally came into the public consciousness. But, I do think the screenplay by Stephen Poliakoff is very well written and the film strongly succeeds because he also directed it. I can compare the story to that of Jane Campion's "The Piano". It is risqué, bizarre, and seemingly shallow. It is also thoroughly compelling. The characters are otherworldly and mysterious, yet very commonplace. You can almost identify with them and by the end of the movie you will find yourself wanting to know more. It is as if you have been looking into a snow globe at a fantasy world come to life, just on the other side of the looking glass. Everything is madness for this trio.... "Close My Eyes" is a journey into the "What if ? ". The most difficult question is, "Why ? ". Only Natalie and Richard can answer that question, or can they? If you are a fan of Clive Owen, Alan Rickman, and/or Saskia Reeves, check it out.

I actually didn't find too much all that disgusting about the relationship upon which two of the main characters embark, and I find films about unfaithful husbands and wives rather interesting. But cuts are choppy, and some of the dialogue is just plain stupid. The only really good scenes were given to Alan Rickman, playing the cuckolded husband, and such scenes are regrettably brief. It was a bold attempt at something that could have been very interesting, and the twist at the end almost makes it worthwhile. But I'd spend my movie renting dollars on something else if I had a second chance.

Well, I liked it so much I opted to buy it. (A VERY tough movie to find might I add) But I digress...When the announcer gave a brief description of this movie on T.V, I admit I was curious (in a Ripley's Believe it or not sort of way). I initially watched it for the shock value. But by the end credits I thoroughly "wowed". The acting was convincing to say the least, especially when dealing with such a sensitive subject as incest. The beautiful landscape this movie is set upon is great eye candy (so is Saskia Reeves). This movie gets high marks in my book, however I do have a gripe. Early on in the movie the plot is rushed, switching time periods too often. However, once the time shifts settle the movie begins to shine. The human drama played out represents one possible outcome in a field which most people know little about. Is this an accurate portrayal? Who knows?.....Who wants to know? One thing is certain it makes for an interesting and entertaining movie.

I expect this movie was made simply to shock or something, and perhaps it did in 1991 but now it's simply an interminable yawner. A primal no-no of screen writing is the over-use of time jumps, you know, when there is 1 minute of action then a flash on the screen telling is "two years later" etc. Too often this trick is used in this movie to cover awkwardness in the basic story and to cover gashes in the fabric of the script. This flick starts with several such devices. Time jumps can work if the script is top-drawer, which this one is not. It's basically a simple story of a cuckolded, self-absorbed imbecile and his neurotic, self-absorbed wife who is having it off with her rudderless, self-absorbed brother. All I can conclude after drifting through this mess is that it is a story of arrested development in a trio of unbelievably childish adults leading fantasy lives in chic settings. Worthwhile only for the photography and beautiful settings, houses, flats and parks along the Thames, not to mention the very attractive bodies of Saskia Reeves and Clive Owen, talented actors who are completely wasted as the two maddeningly inane and vapid leads. Alan Rickman can do little more than look befuddled and helpless as the wronged husband. It's all rather sick, but not because of the incest issue, which isn't really very shocking due to the ineptness of the script, but more so because of the abominable selfishness and stupidity of the characters. The motivation for the characters' behavior is highly confusing, besides, who cares anyway. Rubbish.

This is the kind of film that British film-makers do very well. An ambitious brother and sister have grown up distant from each other. The tension they feel when they meet comes to a head when Natalie initiates Richard into an incestuous affair. She maintains control throughout and he is tortured. The whole story is set against a background of urban London and sumptuous Richmond middle-class wealth. It is very well acted and has an interesting sub plot of Richard's boss who is dying of AIDS. It deals with the difficulty of finding permanant relationships in the late 1980s/early 1990s, but it makes the point with subtlety. It looks mainstream, but falls into the art cinema category, probably because it was intended for television broadcasting. It deals with a very controversial subject with taste, but it is explicit enough for you to feel the attraction between Natalie and Richard with conviction. The lead characters in it are attractive too with great support from Alan Rickman as Natalie's dominating husband. It is as English as anything by Merchant/Ivory, but has much more edge.

This film is an expanded and improved rewrite of Poliakoff's early play Hitting Town. I have always found Poliakoff's plays filmic; this reworking on film is more interesting than the play, although the starkness of the incest in Hitting Town was probably more shocking, and the 1970's UK audience was probably more susceptible to shock. Three great performances in this film - Saskia Reeves, Clive Owens and Alan Rickman. Poliakoff has a great knack of mixing the profound, the profane and the mundane. One telling scene in Richard's flat has Richard and Natalie agonising over their tryst, then making love, while in the background a rain-affected test match (cricket) fails to happen and then starts to happen again. Unforgettable symbolism - Bergman would have used it if only the Swedes played cricket. This film is well worth seeing.