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The less proscriptive, far more liberal outlook of the is blatantly clear in any number of graphic sex scenes, but it has taken a Frenchman, director Patrice Chereau ("La Reine Margot"), to cause the BBFC to consider leaving an oral sex sequence intact. Which they have.
Yet this is no porn outing with pneumatic, perma-tanned, always-at-it babes and unflagging studs, but an intense film whose real sex - in all its awkwardness, hesitancy, and bluntness - indicates the bumpiness of a relationship between Jay, a bar manager who has walked out on his family, and Claire, an unfulfilled housewife and amateur actor who is cheating on her husband. Both are groping towards some kind of contentment when they meet on Wednesdays (for sex), but happiness never happens.
So as to render their sweaty encounters as untitillating as possible, ChΓ©reau never uses attractive lens filters, slick camera moves, or exciting editing, and so the ill-at-ease relationship of this inarticulate couple comes through all the more powerfully. This is also due to two full, textured performances from Mark Rylance and Kerry Fox, who are such good actors that they convey pain or loss with the smallest twitch of a mouth or the briefest glance. The only real mistake the director makes is to ram home his themes and ideas through the self-conscious remarks of Jay's colleague and the overheated prattle of Claire's chatty husband (Timothy Spall). He should have trusted in the couple's significant silences, and the sex.
"Inimacy" is released in the UK on Friday 27th July 2001.
Read about "Intimacy" on Newsnight.
