Eyes wide open...

Introduction

Stephen Poliakoff is best known as one of Britain's best television and stage dramatists. He occasionally ventures onto the big screen, and 1991's Close My Eyes is one such venture.



It tells the story of Richard (Clive Owen) and his elder sister Natalie (Saskia Reeves). Their parents split when they were young and they didn't see much of each other. They meet for dinner and something awakens inside of them. They know that their intimacy is wrong, but they become addicted to it in different ways.

Richard moves to London, Natalie marries Sinclair (Alan Rickman), who has a lot of money, nice houses, cars and boats. But they still can't stop seeing each other. Are they doomed?

Video and Audio

Oh dear.



We are presented with a 1.66:1 anamorphic transfer, which is how the film was originally presented.

But it looks pretty bad. It looks like you're watching a ropey VHS copy. And you really shouldn't be doing that in this day and age. Surely someone could have stumped up a few quid to clean this film up and make it easier to watch. There are some interesting locations on show here too, so it's really annoying that the picture looks poor.

From the picturesque banks of the Thames in Surrey to the nascent Docklands redevelopments, there's plenty of backdrop to complement the on screen activities. Poliakoff's interest in architecture is once again evident by some of the locations chosen for the film.



There's also a DD2.0 stereo soundtrack which is pretty average, but certainly better than the picture.

Extra Features

Interviews with the main protagonists, Owen, Reeves, Rickman and Poliakoff as well as an even poorer than the main feature quality trailer. The interviews appear to have been shot recently and offer an interesting retrospective on various aspects of the film. All well worth watching.

Conclusion

An interesting metaphorical piece from the early 1990s. After leaving the Thatcher years of the 1980s behind, the world was coming to terms with issues like pollution and the spread of AIDS, neither of which were helped by what could be termed "1980s attitudes". And that feeling of "what did we do to ourselves" in the 1980s, and "where do we go from here" at the start of the 1990s is reflected in the plot of this film.

Whilst incest is still a taboo (unless you're making cheap jokes about rural communities), it's handled here with a delicate touch and a sensible avoidance of anything prurient. So whilst it is the central arc of the story, it's there purely as a metaphor. And it all works well and isn't too heavy handed. This is an interesting film and well worth a watch. The performances from the three lead actors are excellent, even though Alan Rickman just appears to be playing Alan Rickman (as he usually does!) I'm surprised that Saskia Reeves has still not become a much better known actress, but it's good to see that Clive Owen is now making more of a name for himself.

Sadly the DVD is another lacklustre effort, but that's what we've (cynically) come to expect from releases of films such as this one. I've said this a few times this year, and it's sad that I still have to round off reviews like this, but that's just the way things are at times!