The movie Proximity, the reviews of which you will find in this article, is a psychological drama directed by Mike Nichols. The picture was released in 2004. This is a film adaptation of the play of the same name by Patrick Marber. The main roles in the tape were played by Julia Roberts, Jude Law, Natalie Portman, Clive Owen. From this article you will learn about the plot of the film, the cast, the ratings of critics and viewers.
The plot of the picture
The movie Proximity, the reviews of which are given in this article, begins with an episode in which Dan Wolf (actor Jude Law) and Alice Aires (actress Natalie Portman) meet. They notice each other in a crowd of passers-by.
Alice is a young stripper who recently moved to London from the USA, and Dan is a writer who fails one after another. Now he composes obituaries into newspapers. The moment Alice crosses a busy road, she is hit by a car. Dan helps her, escorts to the hospital. When she gets better, the girl escorts him to work. Along the way, they examine with interest the nameplates of people who sacrificed their lives for others. Near Dan’s editorial board, young people break up, in the end the writer only manages to find out the name of the stranger. They continue to meet, and after a while become lovers. This is the plot of the film "Proximity", the plot of which is described in detail in this article. This fascinating story is sure to interest you.
Year goes by
After meeting with Alice, Dan returns to inspiration, a year later he finishes his book. It is noteworthy that it is based on real events from the life of his new girlfriend. During the photo shoot, which is timed to coincide with the publication of this novel, Dan takes care of the photographer Anna Cameron (actress Julia Roberts). As you can see, in the movie "Proximity", the actors got the first class, real Hollywood stars.
Anna is not aware of the relationship between Dan and Alice, passionate about the writer, she kisses him right before the appearance of his girlfriend. As soon as Alice is in the studio, Anna and Dan talk about what happened. She asks the writer to leave so that the master takes her portrait.
After that, Alice admits that they are aware of their conversation. Anna takes pictures of her sobbing. But Dan is not aware that Alice became aware of his kiss with a charming photographer. Therefore, throughout the next year, he continues to pursue Anna, but she categorically rejects all his courtship.
Chat for virtual sex
Another year passes. Clive Owen, who plays Larry, joins the star actors in the 2004 film Proximity. He meets Dan in an online chat room designed for virtual sex. Larry is a doctor, he is a dermatologist by profession.
Dan pretends to be Anna, whose kiss she still cannot forget, despite the fact that a lot of time has passed. He promises Larry in reality to enter into a relationship with him on her behalf and makes an appointment near the city aquarium, just at the time that Anna is there regularly.
The doctor is not aware of the hype. On a date, he really meets with Anna, he recognizes her from the photo that Dan used in the chat. Comparing all the facts, Anna comes to the conclusion that Larry’s acquaintance through Internet correspondence is the very man who has been haunting her lately. Despite this, Larry and Anna fall in love with each other, and Dan is now called their Cupid.
Anna exhibition
The next important episode of the film is Anna's exhibition, which opens four months after the events described. This is the only scene in which all four main characters appear in one frame.
At this exhibition, Larry meets with Alice, recognizing in her a sobbing woman from the photograph of Anna presented at the exhibition. During the conversation, she finds out that Alice is the girlfriend of writer Dan. Meanwhile, Dan himself still persuades Anna to be close to him. The whole next year they enthusiastically cheat on their partners. This does not stop Anna from agreeing to Larry’s proposal and marry him. However, in the end, they still admit to their treason. Alice throws Dan, and Larry insists on breaking up with Anna, having learned that she has been deceiving him for so long.
After that, Anna and Dan come together, and Alice, worried about betrayal, returns to the profession of a stripper. Soon Larry meets her at the club for men, again recognizing her as a girl from a photograph of his ex-wife. He tries to find out if her name is Alice, but she insists that her name is Jane Jones. The man persuades her to spend the night with him, but Alice refuses.
Then Larry insists that Anna meet with him for the very last time. On a date, she agrees to sleep with him, but only on condition that the man immediately draws up all the documents about the divorce, after which leaving her alone. Anna talks about these conditions to Dan. He is angry, makes a scandal, they break up.
Then the girl returns to Larry. At the next meeting, Dan insists that he let her go, but Larry instead advises him to better inquire about Alice’s fate, going to the place where she constantly spends time. Moreover, yielding to a momentary rush of revenge, he claims that the previous night he was with Dan's muse and love.
Reunion with Alice
Dan finds Alice at a strip club, she takes it back. However, she claims that in reality, she did not have intimacy with Larry. Dan does not believe her, beginning to insist that she stop lying to him and admit everything. In response, Alice says that she no longer loves him, in spite of Dan, confirming that she really slept with Larry.
Dan says that Larry himself told him about their fictional connection, admitting that he had already managed to forgive her. Alice does not want to listen to anything, she declares that now it’s all over between them, asks Dan to leave her life forever. A fierce debate erupts between lovers, in the finale Alice insults him by spitting in the eyes of her former lover, and he hits her in the face.
Denouement
In the finale of the movie Intimacy, reviews of which will help you learn a lot about him, Alice decides to return from London to New York. At the passport control at the airport, she opens a passport, only after that the viewer learns that all this time she was hiding her true name. In fact, her name is Jane Jones, as she told Larry.
Walking past the plaques with heroes lingering at the very beginning of the picture, Dan draws attention to one of the plates on which the name Alice Aires is carved. He realizes that all these years the girl lied to him.
Interesting about the picture
The film premiered in the United States at the very end of 2004. The film was successfully rented, with a budget of $ 27 million in cinemas around the world she managed to raise 115 million.
It is interesting that, according to the joint decision of the director Mike Nichols and actress Natalie Portman, in the final version of the film there were no explicit episodes with her participation, in which the heroine Portman takes off all her clothes, showing Larry's striptease.
Clive Owen was involved in the theatrical production of this story, but there he played the role of Dan. The role of Anna was originally planned by Cate Blanchett, but could not play in the picture due to pregnancy.
Damien Rice, who performed the title track in the film, also created a composition called "Intimacy", but did not manage to finish it by the time the picture appeared on the screen, so it was not in the final version.
Awards and prizes
The film "Proximity", according to reviews of viewers and critics, received high marks. Most of them went to Clive Owen. He has won BAFTA, Golden Globe, Critics Awards from Las Vegas, New York and Toronto as Best Supporting Actor. "Golden Globe" for Best Actress in a Supporting Role received Natalie Portman, and she also won the Society of Film Critics award from the city of San Diego.
The quartet of actors who played the main roles in the film received an award from the National Council of Film Critics of the United States for the best cast.
Natalie Portman and Clive Owen were nominated for an Academy Award. But Morgan Freeman received awards for Clint Eastwood’s sports drama “Million Dollar Baby” and Cate Blanchett for Martin Scorsese’s military drama “The Aviator,” respectively.
Reviews
In reviews of the movie "Proximity", film critics note that only at first glance this picture may seem attractive and light romantic romance. The very first episode of the film, in which we see a London crowd of people, is pushing us to this, everyone is in a hurry somewhere. This expresses our clear desire to quickly meet a loved one, connect with him, stop being lonely, instantly recognizing him for the rest of his life.
At first, we observe a romantic story, but when a “love square” forms on the screen, everyone has to start lying to their partners. In this regard, many remembered Nichols' very first film - the 1966 chamber film drama “Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”, Which received five Academy Award. In it, too, the ugly relations of two married couples, the same “love quartet,” came to the fore. After spending the night in conversations, drinking, arguing and psychological games, the next morning they realized that they could no longer remain the same as before.
Reviews
Reviews about the "Proximity" of 2004 are very different. Many did not like the obvious immorality and falsity of all the main characters without exception. Romantic relationships were vulgarized so much that sympathy does not appear for any of the heroes.
Those who liked the picture, in their reviews of the 2004 film “Intimacy,” note that Nichols’s new film about the main sufferings and doubts in a person’s life is about fear of staying and inability to leave. How often do we encounter them in our daily lives for most who are not happy at home or at least begin to doubt.
In negative reviews of “Intimacy,” viewers insist on the far-fetchedness of the plot itself, not everyone seemed to have the true and obvious motivation of the main characters, which some viewers seemed more like banal pseudo-sensitivity.