CONFOUNDING 'CLOSE MY EYES' A TWIST ON SIBLING RIVALRY

By Clifford Terry

(Chicago Tribune, February 14, 1992)

 

'And to think we never even liked each other as kids," Richard says to Natalie somewhere in the middle of "Close My Eyes" after a passionate session of lovemaking. That certainly isn't the case at the moment. They like each other, it so happens, only too well. Richard and Natalie are brother and sister.

A British entry that opens Friday at the Music Box, this study in incest starts out shakily-thanks in large part to a good chunk of hard-to-understand dialogue and a storyline that seems to be going nowhere. After the first 20 minutes or so, though, it settles down into a reasonably adept piece, although considerably flawed and, ultimately, unsatisfying. It is the kind of film with lots of brooding and anguish, populated by characters who use words like "boring" and "gloomy." At the outset, the siblings-who had been brought up apart after their parents separated-spend most of their time in London playing catch-up and engaging in a favorite English pastime: fighting the old ennui. Now a secretary, Natalie (Saskia Reeves) has drifted from dead-end job to dead-end job, from dead-end affair to dead-end affair. Richard (Clive Owen) has gone through a succession of women and is now working at an urban renewal office involved in a sterile planned community.

But then she marries a rich bloke named Sinclair (Alan Rickman, best known to American audiences as the Sheriff of Nottingham in "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves"), and moves into his lavish estate on a river in Surrey. A player in the financial game, he is characterized as "eccentric," but mostly seems just garrulous.

Natalie tells Richard that she is now quite happy, thank you, but before long, she visits him in his flat and they begin their steamy relationship. She reflects that it "sort of happened," and vows it will never occur again. This being an hour and 49 minute movie, it does, of course. Telling eccentric Sinclair that she has to go away for a few days, she meets Richard in a borrowed apartment, and they play house for the weekend. He asks if her husband is cheating, too. "This isn't cheating," she retorts, arguably. "Anyway, that's an American expression."

As he worries about the fact that what they're doing is illegal and that they could land in jail, she expresses apprehension that they'll become "addicted." Soon, Sinclair suspects that his lovely wife is having an affair but doesn't know with whom-or perhaps doesn't want to know. Meanwhile, as Natalie`s guilt increases, so does Richard's obsession, as she comes to realize that her brother can`t "handle it" (as if she can) and demands that he find a girlfriend and "let it go."

Written and directed by Stephen Poliakoff, this is a confounding work, at times compellingly brittle, at others obvious and flat. Often one has the sense that-like the characters-it is simply full of air. While it is well acted and the cinematography by Witold Stok is quite striking, Poliakoff`s direction is considerably firmer than his screenplay.

For the record, "Close My Eyes" was named best film at the 1991 Evening Standard British Film awards.

 

 

 

Originally on KelClancy's Page