Close My Eyes (1991)

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Blistering performances.

After some years of tension, Richard begins a sexual relationship with his sister Natalie.Now married, the relationship proves dangerously obsessional.Their private intensity & working class origins contrast with the middle-class, stuffy public scenes we see in the Richmond world into which Natalie has moved with her marriage.As the guilt and intensity of the siblings increases, they seem to be heading for disaster, a foreboding which increases when husband Sinclair suspects her commitment.....Despite the taboo subject, Close my eyes isn't as hard to watch as you may expect. The film isn't very graphic, and it rather concentrates more on the class gap than the sexual tension.Owens obsession could have materialised due to the fact that they are drifting apart in class, Owen is still at his roots, whilst Reeves has moved up a notch since her marriage to Rickman.The film is also about taboo. Obviously the main plot point is taboo, but Poliakov References other things, such as the AIDS victim wanting to share a sandwich and the chap refusing, despite Owen taking a bite.The cast are fantastic, particularly Owen and Rickman, and the narrative is something to get lost in. The film has dated though, it has that Yuppie feel to it that was rife in the UK during the late eighties and early nineties, so it has this really strange cleanliness to it.So all in all, it's a terrific movie about class struggle and coming to terms with change, with the added plot point of incest.

Rather than the movie itself, the content is really irritating to me. Not because of the incestuous relationship between the two,I can handle that, but because the fact that the sister is acting like a total b. It could be excused if it's love. But I guess it's not. She uses her brother. She uses her brother yet on the other hand she doesn't dare to let go of her millionaire husband. I guess that could be considered realistic? Then again, the husband must be a fantasy for he knows everything and he just closes his eyes. I'm not quite in mood of criticizing the movie or how it was made, but I guess since it gives me this personal feeling about loving and hating a character their acting must be superb. I feel sorry for the men and the woman is really ugly, in and out. I couldn't sympathize her, I guess.Alan Rickman is the only reason I started watching this movie but he couldn't keep me from loathing it sometimes. He is so mesmerizing in this movie, as usual, very fine acting.

I rented this because I think Stephen Poliakoff is one of Britain's best story tellers. Clive Owen and Alan Rickman are good actors for which Rickman gets acclaim and Owen doesn't. Considering that the talent here was massive, this film is crap.Those who enjoyed it might like to think of the rest of us as prudes. I've appreciated films which I found distressingly unpleasant (i.e. Dans ma peau/In My Skin). Yet I don't find incest distressing. It's something with which I've no personal or second-hand experience. I'm not convinced that it's inherently harmful, when consensual, so I'm not going to judge it.The truth is that Poliakoff fell flat on his bum with this one. Some of the dialogue is worse than I'd expect from a second-rate Lifetime movie. I didn't understand (or feel as though I gained an understanding of) any of the characters or their motivations. Owen and Rickman gave good performances. Reeves was uneven, perhaps due to her having the most idiotic lines of the film, a la Harlequin. The direction and editing weren't very good either. I wonder if Mr Poliakoff was working with severe time limitations and was actually more concerned about the (now complete) development of the docklands (into something that resembles suburban American concentrations of office buildings with, arguably, no character, like Southfield and Troy here in SE Michigan) than telling a story about such uninteresting people.Unless you're wanting to spend money to see every last inch of Clive Owen, surely available somewhere on the internet, there isn't anything here that isn't done much better elsewhere.

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.