''Intimacy'' is a 2001 erotic

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...

film directed by

Patrice Chéreau Patrice Chéreau (; 2 November 1944 – 7 October 2013) was a French opera and theatre director, filmmaker, actor and producer. In France he is best known for his work for the theatre, internationally for his films '' La Reine Margot'' and ...

from a screenplay he co-wrote with Anne-Louise Trividic, based on stories by

Hanif Kureishi Hanif Kureishi (born 5 December 1954) is a British playwright, screenwriter, filmmaker and novelist of South Asian and English descent. In 2008, ''The Times'' included Kureishi in its list of the 50 greatest British writers since 1945. Early l ...

(who also wrote a novel of the same title). It stars

Kerry Fox Kerry Lauren Fox (born 30 July 1966) is a New Zealand actress. She came to prominence playing author Janet Frame in the movie '' An Angel at My Table'' directed by Jane Campion, which gained her a Best Actress Award from the New Zealand Film and ...

and

Mark Rylance Sir David Mark Rylance Waters (born 18 January 1960) is a British actor, playwright and theatre director. He is known for his roles on stage and screen having received numerous awards including an Academy Award, three BAFTA Awards, two Laurence ...

. The film is an international co-production between France, the United Kingdom, Germany and Italy, featuring a soundtrack of pop songs from the 1970s and 1980s. ''Intimacy'' contains an unsimulated

fellatio Fellatio (also known as fellation, and in slang as blowjob, BJ, giving head, or sucking off) is an oral sex act involving a person stimulating the penis of another person by using the mouth, throat, or both. Oral stimulation of the scrotu ...

scene by Fox on Rylance. A French-dubbed version features voice actors

Jean-Hugues Anglade Jean-Hugues Anglade (born 29 July 1955) is a French actor, film director and screenwriter, known for his roles as Eric in ''Killing Zoe'', Zorg in ''Betty Blue'' and Marco, the boyfriend of Nikita in '' Nikita''. Personal life Anglade was born ...

and Nathalie Richard. The film has been associated with the

New French Extremity New French Extremity (New French Extremism or, informally, New French Extreme) is a term coined by ''Artforum'' critic James Quandt for a collection of transgressive films by French directors at the turn of the 21st century. Also available othe ...

Plot

Jay is a bartender who abandoned his family because his wife lost interest in him and their relationship. Now living alone in a decrepit house, he has casual weekly sex with an anonymous woman, whose name he does not know. At first, their relationship is purely physical, but he eventually falls in love with her. Wanting to know more about her, Jay follows her across the streets of London to the grey suburbs where she lives. He then follows her to a pub theatre where she is working as an actress in the evenings. Jay learns that her name is Claire, and she has a husband and a son. Subsequently, it is made clear to Jay that Claire will not leave her family. They meet for a final time and have sex with an intimacy that has been missing during the sex sessions of their previous encounters.

Cast

as Claire *

as Jay * Susannah Harker as Susan, Jay's wife * Alastair Galbraith as Victor * Philippe Calvario as Ian *

Timothy Spall Timothy Leonard Spall (born 27 February 1957) is an English actor and presenter. He became a household name in the UK after appearing as Barry Spencer Taylor in the 1983 ITV comedy-drama series '' Auf Wiedersehen, Pet''. Spall performed in '' ...

as Andy, Claire's husband *

Marianne Faithfull Marianne Evelyn Gabriel Faithfull (born 29 December 1946) is an English singer and actress. She achieved popularity in the 1960s with the release of her hit single " As Tears Go By" and became one of the lead female artists during the British I ...

as Betty *

Fraser Ayres Fraser Stuart Ayres (born 1980) is an English actor, best known for his role as Clint in the BBC comedy series '' The Smoking Room''. Ayres first joined the youth core at the Haymarket Theatre in Leicester and has done other television includ ...

as Dave * Michael Fitzgerald as bar owner *

Robert Addie Robert Alastair Addie (10 February 1960 – 20 November 2003) was an English film and theatre actor, who came to prominence playing the role of Sir Guy of Gisbourne in the 1980s British television drama series ''Robin of Sherwood''. Early life ...

as bar owner * Rebecca Palmer as Pam, girl in squat

Reception

''Intimacy'' was placed at 91 on '' Slant Magazines best films of the 2000s. In a 2001 lengthy column for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', Alexander Linklater described the jealousy he experienced when his partner

took the real-sex role in this movie. Linklater concludes that he accepted the unsimulated oral scene, but he insists that the sexual intercourse is an illusion. Nevertheless, critics have declared its realist tendencies. Linda Williams, for instance, writes that "''Intimacy'' opens with urgent, hurried and explicit penetrative sex" and Tanya Krzywinska writes that in this first scene "the spectator is left in little doubt that penetration has occurred". In a 2015 interview with ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'', Mark Rylance spoke of his experience on the film. At the time of the film’s release, talk of the film’s unsimulated sex scenes in tabloids added stress on his marriage. Rylance commented, "It soured me on my life two months. It’s my mistake, but I felt Patrice héreauput undue pressure on me on set to do that. And at that point I didn’t have the confidence as a film actor to say no. Now I think a lot of actors that people say are difficult are actually just being sensible.”

Awards

''Intimacy'' won the

Golden Bear The Golden Bear (german: Goldener Bär) is the highest prize awarded for the best film at the Berlin International Film Festival. The bear is the heraldic animal of Berlin, featured on both the coat of arms and flag of Berlin. History The win ...

for Best Film and the

Silver Bear for Best Actress The Silver Bear for Best Actress (german: Silberner Bär/Beste Darstellerin) was an award presented at the Berlin International Film Festival from 1956 to 2020. It was given to an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance and was chos ...

(

) at the Berlin Film Festival in 2001.

References

External links