Closet Land

Yesterday, we suffered another loss with the great, British character Alan Rickman. Probably best known for playing charismatic villains in films like Die Hard, Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves, and Quigley Down Under, Rickman proved who could handle any role with great aplomb. He could do comedy, like Galaxy Quest and Dogma, romance, like Truly, Madly Deeply and Love, Actually, and drama, like Sense And Sensibility. Over the next couple of blogs, I'm going to look back at some of his forgotten works that really showed off his diversity. First up is 1991's Closet Land.

This dark, little mind trip stars Madeline Stowe as Victim, an author of children's novels. Victim is taken from her home in the middle of the night, blindfolded, and put in a room tied to a chair. She is accused by Interrogator, Alan Rickman of hiding anarchistic messages in one of her books. He interviews, tortures, and plays mind games with her in hopes of getting a confession. he even pretends to be other people since she is blindfolded in hopes that she will break. But Victim is strong and tries to turn the tables on him.

This brutal film was written and directed by Radha Bharadwaj. Her script, which won the Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting Award, was so strong that filmmakers Oliver Stone and Alan Rudolph become big supporters of it, telling her never to compromise her vision. It also caught the attention of Ron Howard, who executive produced it and insisted that she direct.

Rickman and Stowe are the only players in it, and they are both very effective. Bharadwaj originally wanted either Anthony Hopkins, Ian Holm, or Peter O'Toole in the lead, but I think Rickman is the perfect choice. At the time of release, Rickman wasn't as well known and I think if you had a more recognizable actor it could have taken you out of it.

Since it is very minimal, it does come off as a stage production. But in some ways this adds to the claustrophobia of it.

The studio wasn't crazy about the film and dumped it in only a handful of theaters. It hasn't even be released on dvd.

It's a rough film, but if you are in the mood for a tense thriller with two great performances, you should seek it out.