She, on the other hand, is upset, and looks to him for comfort and in the middle of the night, they share a moment of affection that goes a little bit beyond what siblings ought to do. As the credits fade, the camera homes in on a young man in a hurry (Richard, played by Clive Owen), passing by the bowlers it turns out that the woman is his estranged sister, and he’s late.
CLOSE MY EYES (1991) MOVIE
We see a floodlit bowling green, incongruously (but, given that one of the subplots of the movie turns out to concern urban planning law, not irrelevantly) positioned amongst tower blocks meanwhile a young woman (Natalie, played by Saskia Reeves) is smoking a cigarette on a balcony, possibly in one of those same blocks. Review: The opening scenes of Stephen Poliakoff’s film, ‘Close My Eyes’, are truly mesmerising. Tagline: There are some relationships so taboo they’re irresistible. The film has an 18 certificate in the UK and an R Certificate in the US.Overview: An estranged brother and sister begin an intense sexual relationship, behind the curtain of their otherwise normal working-class lives. The film was originally released on VHS video by Artificial Eye and is available on DVD in the UK and the US on the Cinemaclub label. The film won the Evening Standard film award for Best British Picture of 1992. The final scenes along the river are at Henley on Thames, Oxfordshire.
The grand party that is the stage for the film's climax was shot at Polesden Lacey in Bookham, Surrey. The film was shot mainly in London and, specifically, London Docklands with Sinclair and Natalie's house being in Marlow, Buckinghamshire. A parallel thread running through the movie is the rapacious replacement of the classical by the modern, represented visually by old and new buildings. Beyond this, the film also covers the chaos (as the film sees it) that was the initial stages of the London Docklands development, the late 1980s recession and attitudes towards AIDS. 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, and the film re-uses some lines from that play in dialogue between the brother and sister characters. Sinclair appears, and staying calm, makes it clear that he knows what has happened. On finding her, the two have a fight, then return to the gathering disheveled. He attends with his colleague Jessica, but abandons her to search for Natalie. She invites him to the going-away party, on the condition that he not attempt to renew their affair. He attempts to commit suicide with sleeping pills, but Natalie arrives unexpectedly at his apartment.
Some time later, after learning that Sinclair and Natalie plan to move to America, Richard has an emotional breakdown. He questions Richard, believing Richard knows who Natalie's lover is. They meet a few more times and eventually Sinclair begins to suspect that Natalie is having an affair. They attempt to resist their attraction to one another, but eventually they succumb to their desires and have sex. Shortly after Richard's visit to her home, Natalie goes to Richard's apartment. When Richard visits Natalie, he is introduced to Sinclair and the two get along well. Six years pass, during which Richard achieves success while Natalie's career stagnates she marries a powerful and rich stock analyst named Sinclair Bryant. Richard seems stunned, but not disturbed.
She immediately apologizes, making the excuse that she just wanted someone to hug. 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. Natalie has recently split with her boyfriend and is unhappy with her job.
In 1985, town planning student Richard Gillespie visits his older sister Natalie, whom he is not very close to since they grew up separately.