Cheap Intimacy (R-Rated Full Screen Edition) (DVD) (Mark Rylance, Kerry Fox) (Patrice Chéreau) Price

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Customer Reviews of Intimacy (R-Rated Full Screen Edition)

By now the plot and the fact of its depiction of acts of sexual intercourse are well-known. There is a woman, Claire. She shows up at Jay's door, Wednesdays at 2 PM. We don't know anything about her at first - just that once she's in his apartment, her clothes (and his) come off. The five to ten minutes of intense once-weekly sex on Jay's apartment floor is no less important for being quick and wordless; it is a sort of a pact between the couple, and their shared illness, really. But it can't, ultimately, do the trick, and the film succeeds - unmoralistically - in showing us how and why. The urge to find either oblivion or ecstasy - whether via alcohol or sex or other means - fuels the couple. There are amazing surprises along the way, via a script that is utterly believable and natural.

In fact, every aspect of the protagonist Jay's life is in fact shown harshly, "graphically," whether it is his hectic job tending bar, his messy, depressing apartment (further evidence that he has lost his moorings), his several friends, or his frantic travels through London. (The camera chases him, and he is chasing her). We're by turns frustrated, confused, and focused. One's attention never wanders during this story.

Children (Jay's and Claire's) are used well in this film. They can tell the truth, and they do. They use the word "love" - and the adults in this movie really can't. In several scenes Jay is at his ex-wife's apartment, bathing his beautiful little sons. He lies on what was the marriage bed and makes a sort of sad and frantic fetish of his ex-wife's underwear, and is interrupted by his son, who needs his help. We are never asked to be voyeurs, but witnesses to a lot of sadness, distress - and the difficulty, really, of the attainment of happiness.

This is an astonishing film about broken hearts - and what people might do to try to mend them.

Reels you in..but......
A simple story:

Woman goes to man's apartment every Wednesday for a "no name, no history, no discussion, no attachment" whirl in the hay. Man follows woman home one day. He finds out woman has a family. Man meets husband, while keeping the secret from him. So begins an emotional experience...

Trust me - Does it seem like its been done before ? You bet cha ! Not much new is introduced here as far as this kind of genre goes. (With the exception of a tasteful scene of felatio and some soft core sex scenes - No penetration, but a few shots of erections are present). Its not shocking for the most part, and its not done in a vile manner...So don't expect a sex film.

The first 30 minutes is spent learning the male character (played well by Mark Rylance)and his sexual escapades with the female lead (Kerry Fox). The direction does not allow the viewer to know anything about Kerry Fox's character - so we are drawn into the a-la-'Last-Tango-In-Paris' romance without a clue being dropped as to who this woman is. Once those 30 minutes are up, we are slowly (VERY slowly) introduced to her for the last hour-and-a-half of the movie.

Not only does the film takes its time with the paper thin plot - but it seems to waste the viewers time introducing us to characters who don't add anything interesting to the sexual tension of the story. One could argue these characters are building personality out of the leads - but I was asking myself a few times during the film, "So what" ?

So, sadly - we get a glipse of a dreary side of London, introduced to people who are not very pleasant to be around, and left with not much feeling for either character by the time the end credits roll.

Hats off to Marianne Faithful for a good acting job...Then again, her character was the only one I really took a liking to.

A very well made film with good scenic locations - and very good dialogue - but not much plot or feel for the characters. See it only if this kind of movie interests you...If not, pass on it.

NOT VERY INTIMATE.....
Like other reviewers, I was disappointed in "Intimacy". I found that the film had very little to say in terms of why the two main characters (Mark Rylance and Kerry Fox) carried on such an unpleasant sexual relationship. Their weekly meetings in Rylance's grungy apartment for sex obviously indicated they each had deeper more emotional needs. But neither find what they are looking for. They are both frustrated, unhappy people with unfulfilling lives and blunt, crude sex grants them the temporary escape valve. However, it's obvious that the sex isn't really fulfilling either one of their needs. Rylance and Fox are good actors and Marianne Faithful is good as one of Fox's friends. But neither Fox nor Rylance is terribly attractive so their nude sex scenes aren't that interesting which makes the sadness and desperation of their acts even more downbeat. I agree the film is more explicit than most but without a good story and at least a positive note or two I can't really recommend it. If the film's intent is to show that an empty sexual relationship gets you nowhere, then it succeeds very well on that premise.