Close My Eyes

Clive Owen - Richard
Saskia Reeves - Natalie
Alan Rickman - Sinclair
Karl Johnson - Colin
Lesley Sharp - Jessica
Kate Gartside - Paula
Karen Knight - Philippa
Niall Buggy - Geoff

Stephen Poliakoff's overlooked and misunderstood Close My Eyes examines the pain and despair of an incestuous love affair. Poliakoff's challenging human drama dares to confront highly sensitive issues including AIDS and the taboo subject of incest, and uses the themes as melancholic metaphors for the irresponsible self-indulgence of the Thatcherite 1980s.

Two siblings from a broken marriage, Richard (Clive Owen) and Natalie (Saskia Reeves), raised by different parents reunite as adults after a long absence only to discover a deep forbidden passion for one another still exists. Richard is a slick and successful young architect whilst Natalie is lonely and discontented, but when they meet again for an illicit liaison she derails Richard’s life by seducing him.

Over a long hot summer in late-1980s London, things have changed since they last met and Natalie has married wealthy financier, Sinclair (Alan Rickman), and resides in a lavish mansion on the banks of the River Thames, whilst contrastingly Richard is seeking escape from the anxieties and pressure of working life in the public sector. Overwhelmed by the destructive affair, their roles are reversed and it’s obsessive Richard who struggles to come to terms with life without his sisters affections. Not wishing to hurt those around her, Natalie informs her distraught brother she intends moving to America with her husband. During their going away party, the truth comes out.