MovieChat Forums > Closer (2004) Discussion > How well, and to which character do you ...

How well, and to which character do you relate to from this movie?

posted 10 years ago by Gracelovesmovies
36 replies | jump to latest

I love this movie. It communicates the complexities of relationships and emotions so well, I could relate to all the characters but especially to Jane.

When she says "I'm supposed to leave you", we realise that was her intention all along; to love and leave him. So she decided to take back control and slip away when she sent him to make tea. She didn't expect to fall in love, but she did want a new start and to be good. She gave Dan a fake name because she wanted to be pure, like Alice Ayres, not Jane Jones the stripper. Likewise, people like me can't help burning bridges to seek a new life every now and then and come away feeling disillusioned.

Not only that, she thought she was the whore and the heart breaker, not goody two shoes Dan (or respected photographer Anna). I can relate to this because I felt like I was the tainted one (not a whore in anywhere but my mind, mind you), the dark one, and like Dan, my boyfriend was the good mommy's boy but he was the one who cheated. And yet like Larry, I couldn't stop prying about it all, going through messages and Facebook posts to satisfy my own sick curiosity, interrogating him about the details and why he did it, what he felt about her and so on.

Finally, I lived those exact moments when Jane said "I don't love you any more" and "I could have loved you forever". The first is a sudden moment when the heart feels like it died and you suddenly feel nothing more for the relationship. The second is the absolute blame and hurt you throw at your partner for making you lose your innocence, tarnishing the relationship and throwing away a good thing.

TLDR: I'm complicated, Jane is complicated, we have baggage, like to find new starts, and think (maybe too) badly of ourselves.

Who was the character you related to and why? Also would love to hear any theories about the significance of the obituaries and Jane's hair or anything else I missed.

P.S: Love Clive Owens in this movie, the chatroom scene is priceless. Also love the Fall Out Boy and Panic! At the Disco songs and videos based on the film (Lying is the Most Fun..., Thks For the Mmrs, I Write Sins Not Tragedies, But It's Better If You Do)

[–] LostTravels 10 years ago

I relate to Dan.

• Aspiring Writer
• Love to mess with people over the net
• I always get my cake and eat it too
• Crybaby

[–] SlackerInc (1069) 3 years ago

Yeah, Dan for me too.

[–] nicolehering 10 years ago

Probably Jane. I have plenty of secrets/stuff I'm ashamed of that has happened to me that I'd love to have a fresh start from. Also when I love someone, I really love them intensely. As all my relationships have ended badly I always cut the person completely out of my life afterwards. I can relate also to the cheating boyfriend thing and being angry and her lines: I could have loved you forever.

[–] JaneParker 10 years ago

Well, all of the characters are too morally loose for me to completely relate to, but I can def. relate to Jane as well. I just rewatched the movie again for the first time in many years and it's amazing how my perspective has changed. Having loved someone who loved someone else all along, my heart broke during that final scene where Dan asks Jane "who are you?" and she answers "I'm no one!". Maybe she meant it in another way but it hit home. Wonderful movie despite its horrible characters, I loved it 10 years ago as a teen and I loved it now.

And on some small level, I think you owe me something for deceiving me so exquisitely.

[–] PhoenixPhuck 10 years ago

I relate to all of them.

Jane
Larry
Anna
Dan

In that order.

Even the most primitive society has an innate respect for the insane.

[–] trobinson97 10 years ago

A part of me really hates to admit it but Larry.

[–] PhoenixPhuck 10 years ago

Even tho I ranked Dan as the one I relate to the least, I'm probably just saying that because he's the one I'm most ashamed about relating to.

Even the most primitive society has an innate respect for the insane.

[–] CookieToCookie 9 years ago

I found myself pausing the film at parts and questioning which Character I'm most like. And despite being a female, I thought Larry too. At first I thought if I was in the film I would date Larry - he's successful, praised his wife's achievements, loved and catered to her, he was also funny with wit. Then as the film went on I realised that perhaps Larry would be the male version of me? I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be as harsh as he was as I have a conscience, but he was arrogant, cold hearted at points, and a real smart ass. He was scientific and, although I'm a writer, I'd consider myself very science orientated, plus I'm studying a scientific degree.

I'd relate to Dan in the way that he was easily swayed. He always found himself forgiving those who probably didn't deserve it, like in the beginning when, despite insisting to leave, he stayed with Alice (only for her to escape of course.) Dan showed weakness, and I think that's something we all have.

I dont relate to Anna at all I think. But I do know people like her. She never had the backbone to fight for what she wanted, yet Dan and Larry still ended up fighting over her affection till the end. Just shows how men always seem to want what they can't have!

Finally, I didn't think I related to Jane/Alice until I saw the last scene of her walking down that crowded New York street with that beautiful Damien Rice song in the background (which is how I found out about this film actually). Then I realised, that in some aspects she's the girl I want to be. Not the bad parts about her like the stripper/clingy/sad soul bits, but the way she could just not give an F, walk down the street and have men desire her. All she does is be herself and they are all infatuated by her face and beauty. So I guess she's enviable in the way she doesn't have to do anything but be to become a source of attraction.

[–] jlmcc1031 9 years ago

Great summation, Cookie!
At some point, I walked in ALL of the characters' shoes, at different periods in my life.
I am less Anna than any of them, tho. She seemed to get everything she wanted (which is ironic, because she doesn't seem to want anything for very long)
I think we have all been Dan, the one breaking a heart, and the one who also chases love.
Alice/Jane - I loved her! Her strength, her ability to keep her identity a secret for years from the man she loved. To be so strong as to not need anything, to just take off and be alone, with nothing and no one. I could never do that.
I wanted to be Alice at the end scene in NYC.

[–] MrBanBan 9 years ago

Surprisingly Alice. (but more of the Alice in the play than the film)

[–] andrepfonseca-232-662358 9 years ago

For sure I relate with Larry, although I have my own personal interpretation of his character based on his actions and based on the reality that he was faced.

Larry is in general a good, successful and caring guy. He loves his wife and is dedicated to her.

However, when faced upon betrayal or deceiving all his defensive mechanisms will "kick in" (just like in my own personal case). And then you can see his best qualities turn into his mos terrible weapeons. His smartness becomes fully devoted to protect himself and even to hurt back other people (because they hurted him). The love that he had for his wife turns into cruelty. His sensibility and wit become fully alert to all the devoloping context of the story in an atempt to get out of it in the best position possible, with the least damage to him, maintaining his dignity as a man and managing that the person he loves does not stay with another one.

Larry comes on top in the end because he is the smartest of the caracthers and also the one who can better control his emotions, instead of letting his emotions control him.

I really don't think he is a bad guy. He is human that got cheated and hurt. He responds to that with all he has at his hand, again like any person would do.

One of the best movies I have ever watched and I believe that it touched me deeply when growing up into an adult. Beautiful cinema.

[–] katshapiro 9 years ago

Except that Larry cheated on Anna with a prostitute before he knew she betrayed him.

And treated Alice like a prostitute the moment she told him she used to be one. His touch to her face was like a slap.

[–] Naephelia 8 years ago

She was not a prostitute, but a stripper in a club with a no-touch policy.
I don't think he 'cheated' on her since it was technically over after that night with the confessions etc. And he was a (heart-)broken man, and REACTED to the situation. I don't blame him for trying to get over Anna, and clearly it was not serious as he was half-drunk and horny.

[–] SmartBlonde0 8 years ago

Didn't he cheat on Anna on his business trip, before the confessions began? He told her he cheated, and that's why she told him about Dan. I think the movie was saying he wasn't a stand up guy even before he turned so cruel. I personally thought Larry was so cruel, misogynistic, and manipulative, that however doting he might have been before didn't excuse that.

[–] SlackerInc (1069) 3 years ago

Yes, he was scummy. Not because he cheated (I don’t think people are wired for monogamy) but because of the vicious, misogynistic way he acted.

[–] katshapiro 9 years ago

I relate most to Anna. I get what I want, without really wanting anything. Most of all, I'm tired, and therefore the strongest person wins.

[–] SilverSpring86 9 years ago

I'm in my 20s, and I have a very black and white (and likely naive) view of relationships, so I really related to Jane. I also related to Larry a little bit too. I feel like I would have done exactly what he did were I in his situation, for better or worse.

[–] Stoshie 9 years ago

I related to audience members falling asleep through this pretentious movie about characters I didn't care about and their anguished relationships I didn't care about. The worse part was the dialog, which was obviously "written", by which I mean no one in real life would speak that way.

[–] dannyjobee 8 years ago

Make a thread about that then, you clearly chose to answer this as it is a fairly population thread, just answer the question or make a separate thread.

The funny thing about the word pretentious is that it's also pretentious to use it.

I relate to Jane the most but probably none of them really which is probably a good thing