Boobirt Stylish but barely mediocre overall

Ketrivie It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

andreifpse When you watch this movie just let go. Let go like Tyler Durden had to in the crashing car driven by his imaginary friend. Placed in the ever-changing moment, it catches the lingering desire like no other and makes you crave for the inevitable, then delivers in a delayed , clumsy fashion, it is a rare display of cinematic rhythm. written and directed like a replay of a slow motion bullet, it is as spectacular as it is frightening, never straying from the rectilinear path of the barrel. This is Saskia Reves' only big cast and an electric starter for Clive Owen's phosphorous eyes. After decades they are still hidden like gold, particularly the former. You must see and hear her to believe!

gcd70 Raunchy and surprisingly humorous movie about a very serious subject, that of incest. Clive Owen and Saskia Reeves are brother and sister. The pair are involved with each other in a way most people would consider unusual. The latter is married, so not only is she sleeping with her brother, she's cheating on her husband.Reeves is good, Owen gives a strong performance and Alan Rickman is marvelous as the slightly eccentric husband. Director Stephen Poliakoff manages to disarm us well with some unexpected comedy, however the story lacks the power to disturb its audience, and each character is sadly underdeveloped, especially Rickman's.Mostly unresolved too, or was our director just leaving us to think? Who knows?Saturday, May 8, 1993 - Brighton Bay Twin

clemato The film is really haunting and keeps you spellbound. While the film appears to portray sex scenes for nudity's sake, that's not really what is going on.Okay, okay, this is no Pulitzer Prize winner and Alan Rickman, Clive Owen, and Saskia Reeves can act better than they do in this movie. Butt, I think they each brought so much into the picture that other, less talented, actors would have failed to make this film work as well as it did.The dynamic between Natalie, her brother Richard, and her husband Sinclair is very strange. If you let yourself go and immerse yourself into the story, then you can enjoy it.The story is about very taboo subject matter, at the time when AIDS/HIV finally came into the public consciousness. But, I do think the screenplay by Stephen Poliakoff is very well written and the film strongly succeeds because he also directed it.I can compare the story to that of Jane Campion's "The Piano". It is risqué, bizarre, and seemingly shallow. It is also thoroughly compelling. The characters are otherworldly and mysterious, yet very commonplace. You can almost identify with them and by the end of the movie you will find yourself wanting to know more. It is as if you have been looking into a snow globe at a fantasy world come to life, just on the other side of the looking glass. Everything is madness for this trio...."Close My Eyes" is a journey into the "What if ? ". The most difficult question is, "Why ? ". Only Natalie and Richard can answer that question, or can they? If you are a fan of Clive Owen, Alan Rickman, and/or Saskia Reeves, check it out.

ian_harris This film is an expanded and improved rewrite of Poliakoff's early play Hitting Town. I have always found Poliakoff's plays filmic; this reworking on film is more interesting than the play, although the starkness of the incest in Hitting Town was probably more shocking, and the 1970's UK audience was probably more susceptible to shock.Three great performances in this film - Saskia Reeves, Clive Owens and Alan Rickman. Poliakoff has a great knack of mixing the profound, the profane and the mundane. One telling scene in Richard's flat has Richard and Natalie agonising over their tryst, then making love, while in the background a rain-affected test match (cricket) fails to happen and then starts to happen again. Unforgettable symbolism - Bergman would have used it if only the Swedes played cricket.This film is well worth seeing.