The New York Times by A.O. Scott
If Intimacy does anything well, it portrays desperation, in many different forms.
✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
France, United Kingdom, Germany · 2001
Rated R · 1h 59m
Director Patrice Chéreau
Starring Mark Rylance, Kerry Fox, Timothy Spall, Alastair Galbraith
Genre Romance, Drama
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Jay, a failed musician, walked out of his family and now earns a living as head bartender in a trendy London pub. Every Wednesday afternoon a woman comes to his house for graphic, almost wordless, sex. Their relationship is disrupted when one day Jay follows her and finds out about the rest of her life.
The New York Times by A.O. Scott
If Intimacy does anything well, it portrays desperation, in many different forms.
The movie holds one in its surly grip, but when it's over, few people, I think, are likely to be haunted by it. Futility may work as a mood in a short story, but in a full-scale movie it doesn't bear looking at for very long. (29 Oct 2001, p. 92)
New Times (L.A.) by David Ehrenstein
A lacerating study of sexual alienation.
A tortured reflection on the complex relationship between love, sex, desire and obsession, distinguished by courageously raw performances from leads Mark Rylance and Kerry Fox.
Christian Science Monitor by David Sterritt
Plays like a warmed-over "Last Tango in Paris," with more explicit sex but a lower level of originality and acting skill.
San Francisco Chronicle by Edward Guthmann
Jay and Claire are exquisitely played by Mark Rylance and Kerry Fox.
Powerfully acted, intensely carnal drama.
Although much has and will be made of the film's sexual explicitness -- and, yes, it is a bit -- this less-than-perfect but deeply felt film is finally most daring for its hard-core insistence on our need for connection.
Chicago Tribune by Michael Wilmington
Vibrating with humanity, it's a potent portrait of love, ranging from the purely carnal to the impurely sublime.
Philadelphia Inquirer by Steven Rea
A disconcerting experience.
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