Last Wednesday, I watched a movie from my own collections. The title is Closer. The movie, directed by Mike Nichols and released in 2004, starred by Julia Roberts, Jude Law, Natalie Portman, and Clive Owen. Actually, I bought this VCD last year, January 8, 2008 in Surabaya. But I had just watched it this week.
Closer is a romantic drama about four people trapped in a complicated love story. They are Larry (Clive Owen), Anna (Julia Roberts), Dan (Jude Law), and Alice (Natalie Portman). Plot of this movie is somewhat puzzling, moving quickly between the scenes. But, the bright dialogues and fascinating performances of the actors made me keep watching and follow the stream of this intriguing story.
This love story actually is also about the impact of chance meetings, instant attractions, and betrayals. In the beginning of this movie, two strangers, Dan and Alice, met in an accident, and I knew that the meeting wouldn’t stop right there. Then, Dan and Alice became a couple of lovers.
Another chance meeting was between Larry and Anna. Larry, a dermatologist, unexpectedly met Anna at London Aquarium after he had an appointment with his mysterious friend when he surfed at internet chat room—in fact, the mysterious friend of Larry was Dan, the friend of Anna. This meeting also had subsequent affair de coeur—they married.
A witty, dangerous, and complicated love story began when the two couples met together at Anna’s Photo Exhibition. Love affairs is about to be started, and the affairs devastated the romantic relationship between them. The meaning of love became problematic, not only a romantic. At this point, we can understand that love also has a strong connection with deception, egocentrism, betrayal, and revenge.
For me, this is the most interesting part of this movie. This point reminded me to Sartre and Nietzsche. I remembered my Course of Ethics last week when discussed about the Others. Sartre argued that relations between freedoms are inherently conflictual. The other is a threat. So, Sartre didn’t believe in love. In love, there is self-deception.
And Nietzsche spoke about the Will to Power. Interestingly, he emphasized that the Will to Power is not only about politics, knowledge, and relation with the others. The world is the Will to Power. Nietzsche brings the Will to Power to the ontological perspective.
This movie gave me a good example about the tension between love and the Will to Power. Of course I didn’t believe in Nietzsche and Sartre who tend to annihilate the possibility of sincerity between people. For me, this movie confirmed the ambiguity and strict negotiations in our relations with the others, and the pervasive power of our egocentrism.
I really enjoyed watching this movie. Clive Owen, Julia Roberts, Jude Law, and Natalie Portman presented quite good performance in their respective roles. Most importantly, this movie challenged me to think of deeply and gave me fresh perspective and reflection about our relations and about love.
Rabu, 25 Februari 2009
Closer: Love and the Will to Power
Label: :: In English ::, Movie
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"this movie challenged me to think of deeply and gave me fresh perspective and reflection about our relations and about love"
So, I'm waitin' for you to change the tittle into: "Love and the Will to..."
What a nice post, Ra, n never forget to invite me...
one of best movie ever..
best movie, the watch is suitable for people who still "wakaf" Singles, though also get a fresh perspective on our relationship and love,
Bisa nginjem keh, hehehe
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