Closet Land

Closet Land is a 1991 independent film written and directed by Radha Bharadwaj. The film stars Madeleine Stowe as Victim, a young author of children's books who is interrogated by a sadistic secret policeman (played by Alan Rickman) known as Interrogator. The film was released to mostly mixed reviews.

Plot
Set in an unspecified country, Stowe's character is taken from her home in the middle of the night, accused of embedding anarchistic messages into her book, entitled Closet Land. The book is a story about a child who, as a result of bad behaviour, has been locked in a closet as punishment. While in there, the child is greeted by a group of childhood ally archetypes who innocently attempt to comfort the scared little girl. The seemingly simple content is questioned by the government, which accuses the author of encouraging and introducing anarchism among its audience of naïve children.

While the Interrogator is obstinate in his belief that the author is guilty of hidden propaganda, the audience is convinced of the victim's innocence. The audience later learns that the novel was actually created as a form of escapism, providing a coping mechanism for the author, who endured sexual abuse as a child. Near the end of the film, the interrogator claims that he was the man who had sexually abused the author in her childhood. But one cannot be entirely sure he was the one who abused her, as the film suggests he was just using the abuse against her as a way of breaking her down.

After subjecting her to lengthy physical and mental torture, and pretending to be several other people (another prisoner, a more brutal interrogator) while the Victim is blindfolded, the Interrogator tries to get her to sign a confession—to save her life. While he knows now that the woman is innocent, he implores her to confess to avoid execution. She refuses, and goes to her death.

Cast

 * Madeleine Stowe as Victim, a young author of children's books and also interrogated by a sadistic secret policeman.
 * Alan Rickman as Interrogator, a ruthless interrogator.

Production
The script was Radha Bharadwaj's winning submission to The Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting program in 1989. The Nicholl Fellowships are run by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Bharadwaj later stated:

"''That same year, the screenplay was selected to participate in the prestigious Sundance Screenwriting Lab. At Sundance, I met director Alan Rudolph, who encouraged me enormously, pushing me to not compromise or give up in my fight to make my film on my own terms. I put in a cold call to director Oliver Stone's office. To my amazement, he not only read the script himself but also called me in for a meeting. He became a powerful supporter of my work. On the strength of his generous recommendations, I started to pass the screenplay to talent agents. Very soon, I was meeting with actors and actresses who were interested in playing the roles. The very same Hollywood that was once out-of-reach soon came a-calling. I took far too many meetings to count, with producers and financiers who wanted the script but wanted me out of the way as director—they wanted someone famous directing my script. Ron Howard and Brian Grazer's Imagine Entertainment gave me what I wanted: myself as director, with full creative control. I did my film with Imagine Entertainment, and remain grateful to Ron Howard and Brian Grazer for their faith in me and their support of me.''"

Bharadwaj said that this film was an outgrowth of her graduate studies at Temple University (PA), that she charmed her Hollywood producers into giving her money to do the film ... and that they dropped it upon release.

Stowe and Rickman are the only cast of the film and they are both credited. Bharadwaj later revealed in a September 2005 production note that Rickman was not her original choice for the Interrogator. "If I were to pick my top choices for role of the interrogator in Closet Land," she wrote,

"I would still unhesitatingly go with my first choices then: Sir Anthony Hopkins, Sir Ian Holm and Peter O'Toole. All three can capture not only the interrogator's violence and villainy—which is the easy part—but, more critically, his humanity. Evil does not come wearing horns and a tail, nor does it announce itself with flamboyant bombast and grandiose posturing. All too often, evil comes in a deceptively human package—it is quiet and inscrutable, complete with a tenderness and warmth that seem real. The seeming genuineness is our trap—this is why we repeatedly are snared by evil, why its pull is so strong. The three actors I just mentioned have the ability to capture true villainy, in all its all-too frail and human wrappings."

Once the film had two thespian actors attached, the film was green-lit and with a budget of two and a half million dollars, it was shot for eighteen days in Culver City, western Los Angeles.

It is left up to the viewer as to whether Stowe's character has in fact run afoul of the Government — or, alternatively, that the Interrogator is acting alone. The film exhibits the use of brutal and inhumane torture to coerce confessions from innocent victims. Due to the film's universal message, the human rights organization Amnesty International served as consultants for the film. Bharadwaj later said of their support:

"I was, and remain opposed, to the Amnesty International quotes and commercials that tag my film in both its theatrical and video release. This is despite the fact that I personally support human rights organizations. But the Amnesty International quotes and commercials made it easy for those who did not understand my film to dismiss it as mere human rights propaganda. And those who did understand my film were irritated and disappointed by the quotes, wondering why a film that ultimately has such far-reaching scope needed to limit itself to an organization and its message. When plastered on a film, these quotes and commercials ended up subjugating the voice of the artist to the voice of a cause. Ironically, isn't that what Closet Land is about? The voice of a lone individual pitted against a cause?"

Release
The film premiered at numerous film festivals, including the Toronto International Film Festival, San Sebastian International Film Festival, the Women in Film Festival and the Stockholm International Film Festival. While Universal released the film theatrically (in limited cinemas) on March 6, 1991, the film was released on videocassette six months later by Media Home Entertainment, distributed by Fox Video. In 1993, Video Treasures released an EP-Mode recorded tape of the film. A DVD has been released in Europe.

Reception
The film generated mostly mixed reviews from critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a 44% rating based on reviews from 9 critics, with an average score of 4.6/10. Despite the mixed reactions, the performances of the cast has been generally praised.

Stage adaptations
Bharadwaj has since licensed the rights for stage performances of her original script. Bharadwaj stated:

"I undertook to adapt my screenplay to stage when I started to receive offers from stage groups all over the world, who had seen my film and were moved by it, and who wanted to perform it on stage. The play version has now been performed almost everywhere in the world. On stage, the words have a lyrical force and sway. The film experience is, however, vastly different: hugely emotional and personal, with her pain and his madness intimately felt; a dream world where imagination is king."

Influence on other work
It has been noted that the 2003 Irish play The Pillowman written and directed by Martin McDonagh borrowed heavily from this film. Commenting on this, Mielke has stated that "plot elements of Closet Land persist in another narrative host body, another way in which this text persists and haunts (if you will) our culture."