Review of Intimacy (2001) by James C — 26 Feb 2008

A curate's egg. The first two thirds are really impressive, with the movie peddling a fine line in dysfuncitonal chaotic lives thrown into even more confusion than is normal by that old devil desire.

The milieu is believable, the characters minutely drawn and the incidents compelling. Then towards the end it all becomes a bit risible, really. The dialogue begins to become rather thuddingly on-the-nose and the "dramatic confrontations" verge on melodrama.

Whereas at first I was gripped with a tension to know, in the later stages I found myself roaring out loud with derision. It is very hard to make serious, adult films with British actors, and I am not sure why it should be, but there's something about them which makes it almost impossible to take them seriously (there isn't that problem when they get on stage).

The cockerney accents of Kerry Fox and, cor blimey, Marriane Faithful are corkers worth a dozen hoots. As with most British films dealing with sex, it's a real dose of bromide. Still, visually one of the best contemporary films about London.