INTIMACY
UK/France, 2000, 119 minutes, Colour.
Mark Rylance, Kerry Fox, Timothy Spall, Marianne Faithful.
Directed by Patrice Chereau.
This review is not meant to be a recommendation of Intimacy. Rather, this is a film which has won the main award at the Berlin Film Festival, 2001. It has also been the subject of a number of articles in the press, some of them rather sensationalist. It is a film which is an occasion for discussion about what is presented on screen and how it is presented.
As can be gathered from the title, the film concerns relationships, love and sexuality. There are several scenes which could be classified as of high intensity (adding up to about five minutes during a 2 hour film). For this reason the film has an 18 certificate. One of the words bandied about in the articles is 'pornographic'. This is not really accurate as the scenes are set within the context of a serious film about love and lovelessness in the contemporary world and are not designed as titillating. It is doubtful whether any audience would find the material seductive. Somewhat shocking, maybe, but not seductive. Perhaps a more appropriate word to describe the scenes is 'obscene' in the sense that they are of explicit sexual behaviour in the same way that graphic depictions of war can be described as 'obscene violence'.
Not everyone will want to watch such material. It requires a mature approach.
Unfortunately, much of the discussion will be about the five minutes rather than the other 115 minutes which is what the serious reviewer and commentator need to be concerned with as well as the viewer who goes to see the film. It is important to note that sensitivity to controversial presentations differs from culture to culture. What is unacceptable in mainstream United States may not cause problems in France. It should be said that, while Intimacy is set in London - which is very realistically portrayed - and the language of the film and the cast is English, it is actually a French production, directed by a Frenchman, Patrice Chereau.
The title Intimacy is ironic. The two central characters meet weekly for what is a casual and anonymous sexual encounter. They have avoided getting to know each other. They barely speak. In their loveless lives, they are literally groping for some kind of meaning. Eventually, the man (divorced with two sons) follows the woman and gets to know her background, her work, her husband and her son. He seems to be desperate for something more in the relationship. His interactions with the husband are part confession, part taunting and punishing him. For the woman, the experience is entirely different. She wants to break out of what she feels is a restrictive marriage but wants to preserve her secrecy.
This is the material for marriage counsellors, social workers, the confessional, the courts. As such, Intimacy has something to say to modern society. It does not provide answers, rather it provokes questions, reminding us that people whose behaviour is not what we would approve of may be stuck in dead ends or wandering in byways, but are still, sometimes desperately, as in Intimacy, searching for something more in their lives.
1. The awards for the film? The critiques? Issues of obscenity and pornography?
2. The work of the director? The stories from Hanif Kureishi? London stories? The use of locations, London as a character? The streets, houses, buses, the bars, the theatre? The musical school?
3. The issue of intimacy, presuppositions about the definition and the reality? Starting with explicit sexual intimacy, changing during the drama, its becoming more personalised, yet alienating?
4. The visuals, the nudity, the explicit sexual action, the context?
5. Beginning with the sexual encounter, animal passion, anonymity, meetings on Wednesdays, the flat? The change during the encounters? The aftermath?
6. Audience reaction to Jay, in the flat, preparing it, Clare’s arrival, the seeming anonymity, the conversation, the sudden passion, in detail? The repetition throughout the film?
7. Jay and his life, his wife, the past relationship, the separation, talking with her, going to the bed, fondling her, the masturbation? His relationship with his son, the communication between the two? The visits? Leaving, divorce? His attitudes towards women? The recurring sex? The obsession with Claire, following her, eluding detection, discovering that her life was ordinary, travelling on the train with her friend, their discussions, on the buses, on the streets, finding the theatre?
8. Claire, Andy and his being a taxi driver, her love for her son, a seemingly nice family? Her friend and their discussions? The meetings with Jay, the sexual encounters, the effect on her? Anonymity, regularity? Jay discovering her in the theatre, the small theatre and audience, performing The Glass Menagerie? Her teaching, the classes, the audition and the performance, with her friend, her strong reactions – talking about herself, weeping in the other room, confiding in her friend?
9. The Frenchman, his working at Jay’s bar, the workers, the reactions, the customers, making the drinks, expectations? His need for accommodation, Jay allowing him to use the flat, their discussions, the build-up in their friendship, conflicts?
10. Vic, his relationship with Jay, a wanderer, wanting money, wanting drugs, presuming on Jay, overstaying his welcome, the fights?
11. Andy, at the theatre, meeting Jay, watching the play, their talking, Andy listening to Jay’s hypothetical about himself? Seeing the play, his relationship with his son, the son coming to the theatre, and becoming friendly with Jay? Going to Jay’s bar? Knowing the truth? The party after the performance, with the cast? Claire, tense, her son, the melodrama of the situation? Reactions? Andy driving Jay home?
12. Claire, visiting again, the talk and communication, each of them talking about intimacy, alienation? Jay articulate about his feelings? The quick sexual encounter, her going? At home, staying with Andy, his knowing the truth and his reaction, speaking harshly to her about her lack of acting ability?
13. The story of an intimacy?
