Close My Eyes (1991)

Average rating

(65%)

Starring:	Alan Rickman \| Clive Owen \| Saskia Reeves \| Karl Johnson \| Lesley Sharp \| Niall Buggy
Director:	Stephen Poliakoff
Studio:	CINEMA CLUB
Run time:	104 mins
Genres:	Drama
Languages:	English
Released:	(unknown)
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A woman, Natalie (Saskia Reeves), becomes re-aquainted with her younger brother, Richard (Clive Owen), from whom she was separated as a child. They meet intermittently for the next few years, until the sister gets married to Sinclair (Alan Rickman), a wealthy businessman. Once married, the siblings become attracted to each other physically and tentatively begin a sexual relationship which blossoms into love, especially on the part of the brother. Everything comes to a head when Sinclair suspects Natalie is having an affair, but does not know with whom. He arranges for them to move to America and, at their going away party, the terrible truth comes out.

Rating of 3 stars out of 5

In this overwrought and claustrophobic drama from playwright Stephen Poliakoff, Saskia Reeves and Clive Owen star as siblings who become a little too close for comfort. Poliakoff, as both writer and director, handles the controversial subject matter with sensitivity and he is rewarded with two heart-rendingly intense performances from his leads. However, the best playing comes from Alan Rickman as Reeves's husband, who delivers a witty yet melancholic performance and is obviously thankful that he doesn't have to ham things up.

Highest rated reviews

6 out of 6 people found the following review helpful:

Not all that

HoneyHoxley from London, 24th August, 2004

I saw this film on its original release, back when I was a young thing at University and open to the ideas and challenges presented in such "art-house" fare.

I remember liking it a lot - doubtless the steamy illicit sex scenes helped, but I'm sure I found it thought-provoking and a little shocking at the time. Having returned to it 10 years later, it did not live up to my memory at all. Now I'm less obsessed with sex scenes (although the scenes still give current films a run for their money!), and more interested in the psychology - and in this respect, it failed me.

The film presents such an interesting and unusual premise - there is so much potential for exploration. I wanted to know why these two fell (so seemingly easily) into something fairly unorthodox, b/c as much as they claimed to fancy each other, would you really want to have sex with your sibling, no matter how good-looking?

The film doesn't substantiate why the initial encounter comes about, nor look in any depth as to what sustains the relationship. The ending is infuriating and a little stupid, and I was left feeling disappointed, and less trusting of my younger self!

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