''Close My Eyes'' is a 1991 film written and directed by Stephen Poliakoff and starring

Alan Rickman Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman (21 February 1946 – 14 January 2016) was an English actor and director. Known for his deep, languid voice, he trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and became a member of the Royal Shakesp ...

Clive Owen Clive Owen (born 3 October 1964) is an English actor. He first gained recognition in the United Kingdom for playing the lead role in the ITV series ''Chancer'' from 1990 to 1991. He received critical acclaim for his work in the film '' Close ...

and

Saskia Reeves Saskia Reeves (born 16 August 1961) is an English actress, best known for her roles in the films '' Close My Eyes'' (1991) and ''I.D.'' (1995), the 2000 miniseries ''Frank Herbert's Dune'' and the 2016 film '' Our Kind of Traitor''. Early lif ...

as well as Lesley Sharp and Karl Johnson. Music was by Michael Gibbs and the film was produced for Beambright and FilmFour International by Therese Pickard. It had a limited theatrical release from 6 September 1991, before being shown in

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

's ''Film on Four'' strand on 28 October 1993.

Plot

In 1985, town planning student Richard Gillespie visits his older sister Natalie, whom he is not very close to since they grew up separately. Natalie has recently split with her boyfriend and is unhappy with her job. She's extremely depressed, and Richard's attempts to lighten the mood are ended when Natalie pulls him into an unexpectedly passionate embrace, kissing him on the lips. She immediately apologizes, making the excuse that she just wanted someone to hug. Richard seems stunned, but not disturbed. Six years pass, during which Richard achieves success while Natalie's career stagnates; she marries a powerful and rich stock analyst named Sinclair Bryant. When Richard visits Natalie, he is introduced to Sinclair and the two get along well. Shortly after Richard's visit to her home, Natalie goes to Richard's apartment. They attempt to resist their attraction to one another, but eventually they succumb to their desires and have sex. They meet a few more times and eventually Sinclair begins to suspect that Natalie is having an affair. He questions Richard, believing Richard knows who Natalie's lover is. Some time later, after learning that Sinclair and Natalie plan to move to America, Richard has an emotional breakdown. He attempts to commit suicide with sleeping pills, but Natalie arrives unexpectedly at his apartment. She invites him to the going-away party, on the condition that he not attempt to renew their affair. He attends with his colleague Jessica, but abandons her to search for Natalie. On finding her, the two have a fight, then return to the gathering dishevelled. Sinclair appears, and staying calm, makes it clear that he knows what has happened.

Cast

as Sinclair *

as Richard *

as Natalie * Karl Johnson as Colin * Lesley Sharp as Jessica * Kate Garside as Paula * Niall Buggy as Geof

Themes

The film is largely a grand-scale re-working of Poliakoff's earlier stage play '' Hitting Town'' in that the main plot remains one of brother/sister

incest Incest ( ) is human sexual activity between family members or close relatives. This typically includes sexual activity between people in consanguinity (blood relations), and sometimes those related by affinity ( marriage or stepfamily), ado ...

, and the film re-uses some lines from that play in dialogue between the brother and sister characters. Beyond this, the film also covers the chaos (as the film sees it) that was the initial stages of the

London Docklands London Docklands is the riverfront and former docks in London. It is located in inner east and southeast London, in the boroughs of Southwark, Tower Hamlets, Lewisham, Newham, and Greenwich. The docks were formerly part of the Port o ...

development, the

late 1980s recession The early 1990s recession describes the period of economic downturn affecting much of the Western world in the early 1990s. The impacts of the recession contributed in part to the 1992 U.S. presidential election victory of Bill Clinton over incu ...

and attitudes towards

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ma ...

. A parallel thread running through the movie is the rapacious replacement of the classical by the modern, represented visually by old and new buildings.

Locations

The film was shot mainly in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and, specifically,

with Sinclair and Natalie's house being in

Marlow, Buckinghamshire Marlow (; historically Great Marlow or Chipping Marlow) is a town and civil parish within the Unitary Authority of Buckinghamshire, England. It is located on the River Thames, south-southwest of High Wycombe, west-northwest of Maidenhead and ...

. The grand party that is the stage for the film's climax was shot at

Polesden Lacey Polesden Lacey is an Edwardian house and estate, located on the North Downs at Great Bookham, near Dorking, Surrey, England. It is owned and run by the National Trust and is one of the Trust's most popular properties. This Regency house was ex ...

in Bookham,

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant ur ...

. The final scenes along the river are at

Henley-on-Thames Henley-on-Thames ( ) is a town and civil parish on the River Thames in Oxfordshire, England, northeast of Reading, west of Maidenhead, southeast of Oxford and west of London (by road), near the tripoint of Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buckin ...

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primaril ...

Reception

On review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

, 67% of six reviews are positive, and the average rating is 6/10.

Awards

The film won the ''Evening Standard'' film award for Best British Picture of 1992.''Plays: 3'', Stephen Poliakoff, Methuen Drama, 1998, Introduction, page i.

Home media

The film was originally released on VHS video by

Artificial Eye Curzon Film (), formerly known as Artificial Eye or Curzon Artificial Eye, is a British film distributor, specialising in independent, foreign-language and art house films for cinema and home entertainment. History Artificial Eye was founded i ...

and is available on DVD in the UK and the US on the Cinemaclub label. The film has an 18 certificate in the UK and an R Certificate in the US.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Close My Eyes (Film) 1991 films 1990s erotic drama films British erotic drama films Films set in London Incest in film Film4 Productions films Films about siblings 1991 drama films Films set in 1985 1990s English-language films 1990s British films