Intimacy
インティマシー／親密
Storyline
The whole story, ending included.
Every Wednesday a woman comes to a stranger's house for almost wordless sex; one scene is unsimulated, and the film won the Golden Bear.
Jay, a bartender in London, walked out on his wife and family when he felt she had lost interest in him, and now lives alone in a rundown house. Every Wednesday afternoon a woman comes to his door. They have urgent, almost wordless sex, and she leaves. He does not know her name.
For a while that is all it is. Then Jay finds he wants more. At work he resents a young barman, Ian, hired over his head, and then takes him under his wing. One Wednesday he follows the woman across London to the grey suburbs where she lives, and on to a pub theatre where she acts in the evenings. Her name is Claire. She has a husband, Andy, a taxi driver, and a young son, Leo. Without telling Claire, Jay befriends them both.
His hard-up friend Victor turns up to stay, and Jay throws him out before Wednesday comes, but that week Claire does not come either. Later Jay and Ian go to fetch Victor from a squat where he has fallen into drug use. Victor calls Jay heartless. That night, egged on by him, Jay sleeps with a woman he meets there, and leaves abruptly in the morning.
Jay confides in Andy about his failed marriage and the woman he sees every Wednesday. After a performance, Andy introduces him to Claire and makes a point of mentioning the affair. At home Andy and Claire quarrel. He says he does not care about the affair; what infuriates him is that she keeps acting when she is bad at it and will never get anywhere. She tells him she will not leave him. Andy comes to Jay's bar and lets him know, obliquely, that he knows.
The next Wednesday Claire arrives while Ian and Victor are helping Jay clear the house. She tells him she will not leave her family and will not see him again. They have sex one last time, and she walks away without looking back.
Starring
Mark Rylanceas Jay
A London bartender who left his family and lives alone, and who falls for the woman who visits every Wednesday.
Jay’s story
Jay lives alone in a bare house in London. For a while the Wednesday afternoons are enough: a woman comes, they have sex and doze, and she leaves without giving her name. Then he wants more. He follows her home to the grey suburbs and to a pub theatre where she acts, learns that she is Claire, and befriends her husband, Andy, and their son, Leo, without telling her. The Wednesday he throws his friend Victor out for her, she does not come. He confides the affair to Andy, who introduces him to Claire after a play and pointedly mentions it. The next Wednesday, while Ian and Victor help him clear the house, Claire comes to say she will not leave her family or see him again. They have sex one last time, and she walks away without looking back.
Kerry Foxas Claire
A wife and mother who acts in a pub theatre at night and comes to Jay's house every Wednesday.
Claire’s story
Claire goes to a stranger's house every Wednesday afternoon for sex almost without words, then leaves in a waiting taxi. At home in the suburbs are her husband, Andy, and their young son, Leo; in the evenings she plays Laura in The Glass Menagerie at a pub theatre and coaches other actors. One Wednesday she stays away. After a performance Andy introduces her to Jay, a new friend, and pointedly mentions the affair Jay has confided to him. At home Andy says he does not care about the affair, only that she keeps acting when she is bad at it. She tells him she will not leave him. The next Wednesday she tells Jay she will not leave her family and will not see him again. They have sex one last time, and she leaves without looking back.
Timothy Spallas Andy
Claire's husband, a London taxi driver, who befriends Jay and comes to understand who he is.
Andy’s story
Andy drives a black cab and lives in the grey suburbs with Claire and their son, Leo; her evenings acting at a pub theatre are a sore point between them. A man called Jay befriends him and Leo, and tells him about his failed marriage and a woman he sees every Wednesday afternoon. After one of Claire's performances, Andy introduces Jay to her and makes a point of mentioning the affair. At home he tells her he does not care about it: what infuriates him is that she keeps acting when she is bad at it and will never get anywhere. She tells him she will not leave him. Then he goes to Jay's bar and lets him know, obliquely, that he knows.
Alastair Galbraithas Victor
Jay's hard-up friend, who comes to stay, sinks into drug use and calls Jay heartless.
Philippe Calvarioas Ian
The young barman hired over Jay's head, whom Jay comes to look after.
Why it matters
Intimacy asks whether sex without names, histories or conversation can stay that simple, and answers that it cannot. Jay wants the Wednesday afternoons to mean something, and the moment he tries to know Claire he trespasses on a life she has kept apart from him: a husband, a child, a stage she will not give up. Patrice Chéreau films the sex with a bluntness rare in mainstream cinema, including one scene that was not simulated, and the film won the Golden Bear at Berlin in 2001, with the Silver Bear for Best Actress going to Kerry Fox. Its subjects are the loneliness that follows a marriage, the difference between wanting someone and knowing them, and a woman's right to keep one part of her life entirely her own. It ends with that right intact.