Thursday, March 12, 2009

"Thank you. My name is Jane."

28 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love this movie. I know most people have forgotten it or don't care for it, not me. Loves it!

Joe Reid said...

Plain. Jane. Jones.

Fantastic scene, fantastic movie.

Cinesnatch said...

So good. Under-rated even. This is from "Closer," right?

Jason Adams said...

How weird, I was just looking at some stuff from this movie a few hours ago.

Billy Held An Oscar said...

I remember being surprised that Patrick Marber did not receive an Oscar nomination for his screenplay adaption.

Anonymous said...

off topic

Nat this deserves a thread

http://www.hbo.com/scripts/video/vidplayer.html?movie=/av/films/grey_gardens/grey_gard_tea

Anonymous said...

Such a perfect scene. I need to go watch this now.

ZiZo said...

"Thank you. But it is still Jane."

God I LOVE this movie.

Jack said...

I hate this film. Just full of hateful characters and self-indulgent dialogue. I remember everyone in the cinema cheering after the Clive Owen/Julia Roberts breakup scene though, which is a strange occurance for England.

Anonymous said...

Natalie should have won the Oscar for this role.

Mike Nichols should have been nominated for BD.

Closer should have been nominated for BP.

I wonder how Nichols would have handled "Doubt" if Shanley was not greedy to direct it himself...

do you have a flag? said...

OMG! I love this shot. Amazing movie

Hayden said...

Each time I rewatch Closer I love Julia Roberts more and Natalie Portman less. Talk about a performance that completely falls apart, betraying its "make me a star" self-awareness. Roberts, on the other hand, does the most natural and aching dramatic work of her career, and it's a shame she wasn't recognized by anyone.

rosengje said...

I LOVE this movie. Paradoxically made me fall in love with Clive Owen. When will he return to strong dramatic work? Patrick Marber should be getting attention again soon if the Scott Rudin produced version of Zoe Heller's new book gets off the ground.

Tomi said...

love this movie too. and everybody seems to hate it. it's hard to swallow, dense and thick, like a spoonful of bitter medicine that is meant to cure even if it tastes like sh....

Karen said...

I finally saw this movie and wow! Natalie Portman is my favorite actress, it's just another great performance to add to her list of awesomeness.

Billy Held An Oscar said...

I've heard friends say that this movie makes them uncomfortable. That is what it is all about, right ? A good movie makes you feel - makes you see something within yourself.

NATHANIEL R said...

Hayden I agree that Julia's performance really improves on repeat viewings. Plus, it's so different than everything else she's done. Well done Julia.

would that she would push herself more often. She's only 41 but I kinda get the sense that she doesn't care that much anymore (nothing left to prove and more money than god)

it's so weird to me to imagine Cate Blanchett or Natasha Richardson in Julia's role (since Cate was meant to play it in the movie and Natasha did it on Broadway originally). Even weirder to remember that Anna Friel (Chuck on Pushing Daisies) was in the Natalie Portman role.

rosengje said...

I also agree that Julia's performance holds up to repeat viewings- I think once you get over the wow!Portman factor there is more to dissect. I still find it hard to believe that she gained no awards traction for the performance. It is so against type and challenging. I suppose that she is one of the few actresses that people don't necessarily want to stretch? The America's Sweetheart paradigm is too comforting.

Anonymous said...

how do you think the film would've turned out with Anna Friel as Alice?

Anonymous said...

I have to agree with everything said about Roberts... for me the BEST DAMN THING about the movie... wich by the way is aging very well (the movie)

Anonymous said...

one of my favorite movies, i just watched it yesterday classic movie with great performances

Hayden said...

I talk about Portman's performance being toxic and self aware, and often people say, "Oh, well she's playing a manipulative stripper so of course she's going to look actressy."

However, in the scenes where her "facade" is meant to crumble (notably, when she confronts Jude Law's character) she seems whinier and less authentic than ever. There's one point where she yells, "Not good enough!" that makes me lol every time.

Anonymous said...

I think each actor gave the most incredible performance. this is the difference, Julia and Jude's character are more natural, Natalie and Clive are more showy to me, but they're all good. I think Jude Law is the most underrated here, bcoz his character is not likeable. He did great job for being such an awful daniel wolf.

Anonymous said...

I loved this movie because it was emotionally intense, interpersonally complicated, sexy and full of gorgeous actors who can act! I mean, what more could someone want from a movie? I, too, really enjoyed seeing Julia Roberts as a real, flawed human being and found Clive Owen so very attractive in this movie (I think I've got a big problem with bad men - see the James Cagney thread for further proof!!). But you're right, Anonymous, Jude Law was really, really good in this film too. For a gorgeous guy he made me believe he was a real person which isn't always easy. In some ways, I think the Portman role was the least interesting and had the fewest opportunities to surprise. I just remember finding this movie so intriguing.

Anonymous said...

agrees about portman floored by her o nfirst viwewing over whelmed by own and still am i nthat role so natural underwhelmed by jude and still am underwhemled by roberts but on repaet viwes am less enthused about portman and love the little things roberts does coveribg her mouth after saying something nasty,the way she holds herself i na cardigan in the confrontatio nscene i love her in it and have on my 04 ballot.

Anonymous said...

Back in '04 it was obvious that Blanchett was going to win the Oscar but I was secretly hoping Portman would win. One thing I love about this role is that there is a performance within the performance on-screen. Alice/Jane is a young stripper with some emotional problems; she has an actress' soul inside of her though. She puts on a performance for her entire stay; there's the person she is (J) and the person she's passing herself off as (Alice). It's interesting when you see Alice crack slightly and her less sophisticated qualities come out.

Also, this is one of my favourites of Julia Roberts' performances. I hope she pursues more work like this; she really knows how to subvert her likability. her line "I'm disgusting." still gives me a slight chill.

Anonymous said...

I like Closer, definitely one of my favorite in 2004. I can see Portman and Law (or maybe I love to see them) working together again. in Closer they had such a good chemistry.

Ryan said...

Ahhh yes, my personal fav- not best, FAV- of 2004.

I genuinely believe Clive Owen delivered one THE great male performances of the 2000's in this film. (A richly deserved NYFCC, Globe and BAFTA win-- not to mention 1st Oscar nom) Bravo Clive.

And yes, as someone mentioned, Marber was robbed of an Oscar nomination (at least they kinda made it up to him in '06 for "Notes on a Scandal"). After all, the heart of CLOSER is its scathing dialogue and that’s all Marber.

Lastly, I fully agree on Julia. Besides ERIN, this has to be her finest screen performance; so fascinatingly cold and indifferent. And as Nathaniel has pointed out in the past, her line delivery of "I'm disgusting" is just gold.

Damn, I love this film.