Intimacy tells the story of Andy, a divorcee bartender who meets Claire in his apartment on Wednesdays to have sex, no words involved... until they start to click emotionally and Andy starts following her.
Intimacy is a soaring and raw movie about midlife disenchantment, and the need of physical contact to build emotional one.
The film has been controversial due to the presence of explicit sexual scenes. However, reducing such a good film to just these scenes is intentionally misleading, moralistic, and completely unfair to a story that presents many problems of middle-age in a raw way: divorce, loneliness, emotional emptiness, fracas and rejection, life disillusion, life stagnation and lack of perspective, the conflict between being and adult having to carry your responsibilities and the inability to carry yourself, unhappiness and hope. All of this is beautifully blended and portrayed in the film.
The sex scenes are very strong, simulated most of them, but very convincing as they feel very real. The viewer gets the impression that is watching a real couple in their most intimate moments. The sex is always raw, and goes from almost brutal to sweet, from hungry to delightful, from anxious to comforting, with all the body language and emotions associated to different emotional states. Being so, the viewer does not feel aroused by the images, but sad and anxious about the couple being so in need of human contact and emotional intimacy, and so unable to connect. In that regard, the film creates a clear line between what sex is not, and sets a clear boundary with porn, despite the fellatio in the film being non simulated.
The mood of the movie is a mix of night and interior greenish/yellowish depressing scenes and warm and luminous ones. The art direction is great, as well as the music.
The performances by all actors are terrific, convincing and powerful, especially by the leading couple Mark Rylance (as Jay) and Kerry Fox (as Claire), in two roles that are extremely demanding both at a physical and emotional level. The supporting actors are also convincing: Alastair Galbraith as Claire's husband Victor, Philippe Calvario as gay bartender Ian, Timothy Spall as Jay's drug addict brother Andy, and Marianne Faithfull as Claire's friend Betty, among others. Although Galbraith is always terrific, I do not think he was the right person for his character, as it is difficult to believe that Claire would be with this sort of guy, honesltly.
A very sad movie, not easy to watch, with confronting images and themes, moving at times, with a very powerful story, wonderfully performed and directed.
Not for prudes!
