Christian- Fenwick, Closer

Natalie Portman was the strongest actor in Closer. It was a tough decision between her and Clive Owen, but I think she had more of an arc as a character and more emotional turmoil which made the character a challenge to play, more so than Clive Owen's (though it is worthy of mentioning that he has played both male parts to much acclaim).

Alice, Natalie Portman's character, opens and closes the film. I will be analyzing the first shot from the final scene.

Dominant: Alice is the in the center of the frame and so she is the first thing that the viewer looks at. Also, in a scene before that she tells Dan is going to disappear.
Lighting Key:The lighting is natural lighting. The shot is outside in a city (New York) and so it is a natural city lighting.
Shot and camera proxemics:The shot is distant. It is as if we are looking at her from far away and she stands out in the crowd.
Angle: The angle is straight on as if we, as the viewers, were at eye level.
Lens/Filter/Stock:A standard lens is used with no apparent filter.
Subsidiary Contrasts: The rest of the crowd is the subsidiary contrasts. She is walking through this crowd, but is standing out in it. They allow the focus on her to be more intense.
Density:There is a high degree of density. The shot is full of levels of people. There is a crowd in the foreground and in the background. With the colors of the peoples' clothing in the crowd, it allows for an interesting visual.
Composition: Alice is in the dead center of the shot splitting the frame as well. The shot mirrors the opening scene.
Form: The form is open. It creates the feeling of being in a city and on a crowded street, but without it being uncomfortable.
Framing:The frame is loose. The viewer is allowed to see a wider shot with lots of people and images within it.
Depth:The Image is divided into the foreground, middle-ground, and background. The middle-ground is the focus of the shot because Alice is in it. The other two act as scenery.
Character Placement: Alice is dead center and the other people are spread around her but allowing her to be the center of the frame.
Staging Positions: Alice is straight forward in the shot, directly at the camera. This is a dominant and powerful position. She is not hiding anything.
Character Proxemics: The other characters (the people in the crowd) are blurred out and are around her, but she has no apparent relationship with any of them. She is walking through them.

Sanders- Dan in Closer

I think dominant character in the 2004 film Closer is Dan Woolf, played by Jude Law. Dan’s actions throughout the film gave way for much of the plot. Without some of his decisions, the story wouldn’t have unfolded the way it did. His importance is noticed from the very opening scene, when he and Alice (aka Jane) are walking in a crowd towards one another.  It was not his responsibility to rush over to Alice’s side after she had been hit by the cab or to bring her to the hospital. It was the right thing to do, but he definitely didn’t have to wait for her to awaken. From this, he has started the initial relationship that opens the story.  Because of this meeting, made possible by Dan’s decision to rescue Alice, they built a relationship that inspired him to write a book about her. It was his book that required him to find a photographer to get his picture taken, which led to another crucial element of the plot—meeting Anna. Again Dan didn’t hold back with his emotions, and acted on his initial attraction to Anna at the photo shoot. Unable to forget this encounter, Dan becomes responsible for attracting the fourth character in the plot, dermatologist Larry Gray, which he does by entering a chat room under Anna’s disguise. He arranged their meeting without Anna’s knowledge which sparked romance and eventually marriage between the two.  Dan, however, was able to convince Anna to pursue him, leading to their extensive affair.  It was this affair that led to their decision to leave the other mates. This decision, led by Dan, drove Alice (Jane) back to stripping. All of these happenings confirm that Dan’s confidence and decisions are mainly responsible for progressing the plot.

Cardon - Strongest Character in Closer

Closer is comprised of brilliant actors that all gave strong and encompassing performances. It does help when you have a man like Mike Nichols directing, especially in a film like Closer. The sexual tension reminded me a lot of Nichols’ The Graduate in a sense that every relationship had a forbidden or unattainable aspect to it. Deciding who the strongest character was can be difficult, because they all four possessed strong character traits that paralleled their personality. Having to choose one, I would have to go with Natalie Portman’s character Alice (or Jane Jones).

Portman’s character begins the movie and ends the movie. In the opening scene she is walking London streets as if she were floating/gliding. This is also when her and Jude Law first meet, and he becomes enamored by her. This introduction of her character gives the viewer the notion that she has some sort of control over men, perhaps the control that she doesn’t have for herself. Alice and Dan (Law) enter into a relationship that appears to be healthy, but Dan’s actions become questionable due to his book on Alice. The book also leads him to Anna. A scene where I found Portman’s character to have the upper hand was when Dan confronts Anna about having an affair. Alice lets Anna know that she heard the entire thing, but she doesn’t confront Dan about it. She plays the game according to her rules, allowing certain people certain information/knowledge. We also see this when Alice reveals her true name to Larry. Why does she choose to reveal this information about herself to him and not Dan? Portman does a fantastic job of portraying this young woman with a bit of an identity issue who falls in and out of love, but doesn’t quite know who she is or who she wants to be yet.

Harper Closer

In the film Closer, I believe that the strongest character is Clive Owen's character Larry. He seems to show the most emotion in this film. When I began to watch the movie my first thought was to say that Jude Law, Daniel, was the strongest character. But then the movie introduced Larry into the "love square" and I knew that he was going to be the strongest character. Without his over emotional questions to Julia Roberts' character, Anne, during the break-up, the whole "break-up scene" between both couples would have been unrealistic. His sexual desires, cheating, lying, anger, and choice of words all seem more realistic than the other characters in the film. No one else showed as much attitude or personality as he did. Although, I believe that Natalie Portman's character, Alice/Jane, was the main character she was not the strongest.

Character Placement: Owen is placed to one side of the frame while Portman is place to the opposite side, but them as a whole (looking closely into each others eyes) are very much centered.

Framing: The frame is tight. In this scene the characters were in a private room, The Paradise Suite, where Alice danced for Larry. When Larry is in the room at first he seems intrigued by Alice dancing and stripping for him. Then he gets frustrated with her because she does not tell him who the "real" Alice is.

Character Proxemics: The space between the characters is personal. They are close, but they aren't too close. Alice keeps reminding him that there is a no touch policy, which makes this shot impossible to be intimate.

Slan- Closer

"Closer" is a remarkable film. The acting in this film is real. The acting makes this film blossom. When their emotions changed my emotions changed. I could feel the heartache and pain in each scene. I could feel the love and passion. Over all it was a never-ending circle of love, happiness, and sadness. At the end, everything was not as it seemed to be.

I believe the strongest actor in this film was Clive Owen (Larry). He was the bastard you loved to hate. Larry emotions were raw and real. Owen did not hold anything back. He was manipulative, not as much as Alice, but he's second in line for manipulation category. Own really brought Larry to life. He knew how to get under everyone's skin and hit the right nerves. Larry was the one who was blunt and honest.

I think you can see his manipulation skills in effect in the Dan confronts Larry scene in Larry's office. The scene goes back in forth with the two like an argument for the first few minutes of the scene. The lighting in the room is dim and unnatural. There is a bright light that can be seen as the camera goes back in forth between their arguing. One is above Larry's head and the other one to the side of Dan's head. I feel like it's the lightbulb that pops up when you have a great idea. Larry is above his head speaks that his ideas about the situation are better.

The framing in the film is loose. You can tell each character has some bit of room for moving during the arguing. You can see both sides of the room when the camera jumps to each character as they make a point in their arguing. It gives them the freedom to move around to scream and shout if they need to.

The proximity of the characters is social. You can tell by how far they are from each other. The distance is kept social because even though it is about women it is business. At this distance it doesn't seem like a personal conflict between two people but it is. Dan basically makes an appointment with Larry to plead for Anna and Larry treats it like a social meeting by staying at his desk throughout the arguing.

Armato, Law comes the closest in "Closer"

In the film Closer, it's difficult to describe any of the characters as "strong." Alice (Natalie Portman) relies her own happiness on her relationship status; she needs a man to be satisfied with herself, basically. Anna (Julia Roberts) settles for an unhappy life because, for some reason or another, she feels that she doesn't deserve a happy one. Larry (Clive Owen) manipulates the other characters into getting what he wants, at the expense of all the others' satisfaction. And Dan (Jude Law) is slave to his emotions, changing his mind on a whim several times throughout the film. Law, though, comes the closest to being the strongest character because of his thorough and unnecessary honesty with Anna, Alice, and Larry, his willingness to accept when things can't go his way (Anna going back to Larry, for instance), and his motivation to change his unsatisfactory situations when appropriate (his initial break-up with Alice to go to Anna).

In the scene above, Law's character Dan could have just as easily not mentioned his relationship with Anna and continued on being involved with both women. However, he chooses to be honest with Alice. And when she needs comfort, he swallows his pride and lets her rest on his shoulder. Even though he doesn't love her any more, he finds it appropriate to comfort her, a trait not shared by any of the other characters when they hurt somebody. (Anna doesn't comfort Larry when they first split, Larry doesn't comfort Dan when Dan travels to Larry's office, and Alice doesn't comfort Dan in the hotel room when they are preparing to leave for New York.)



Dominant: Jude Law's face is dominant in this shot. His head is close to the top of the screen and he is in the foreground, attributes which both lead the audience to pay attention to his face before anything else.

Camera Proxemics: In this image, the camera is placed at a social distance. We can see Most of Law's and Portman's bodies.

Character Proxemics: Portman and Law are at a personal distance from each other. While they are not incredibly close together, they are clearly in the middle of interacting with each other. This is apparent even though Law's back is turned on Portman, because she is focused on him.