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Connections, in both directions

Last Tango in Paris poster
Often compared with the controversial films Last Tango in Paris (Bernardo Bertolucci, 1972) and In the Realm of the Senses (Nagisa Oshima, 1976) for its graphic depiction of sexuality, Patrice Chereau's Intimacy (2001) continues in a similar, notorious vein of provocative contemporary cinema, most notably in the perturbative films of Catherine Breillat, that seeks to demystify the conventional, often romanticized presentation of sexuality and capture the stark realism, awkwardness, and imperfection of the act of physical intimacy.
This bleak reflection on the meaning of human intimacy and romantic relationships recalls both "Last Tango in Paris," although here the central relationship touches more than the people engaged in it and "An Affair of Love," although that film's melancholy is replaced with something deeper and darker here.
Reeling Reviews • May 6, 2020
reelingreviews.com ↗
As a sort of retelling of Last Tango in Paris, the film is a fairly fascinating study of Jay (Mark Rylance), a bartender, and his weekly trick an actress named Claire (Kerry Fox).
Movie Martyr
moviemartyr.com ↗
Not since Last Tango in Paris has a film so ravishingly explored the many fine connections between desire, physical intimacy, and romance.
Ed Gonzalez • Slant Magazine • Oct 9, 2001
slantmagazine.com ↗
In the Realm of the Senses poster
Often compared with the controversial films Last Tango in Paris (Bernardo Bertolucci, 1972) and In the Realm of the Senses (Nagisa Oshima, 1976) for its graphic depiction of sexuality, Patrice Chereau's Intimacy (2001) continues in a similar, notorious vein of provocative contemporary cinema, most notably in the perturbative films of Catherine Breillat, that seeks to demystify the conventional, often romanticized presentation of sexuality and capture the stark realism, awkwardness, and imperfection of the act of physical intimacy.
Senses of Cinema
archive.org ↗
My Beautiful Laundrette poster
This time around, Chereau is not pulling from French history but two stories: "Intimacy" and "Night Light" by Hanif Kureishi, the gifted writer of "My Beautiful Laundrette," "Sammy and Rosie Get Laid" and "My Son the Fanatic."
The Seattle Times
archive.org ↗
Based on the novel "Intimacy" and the story "Nightlight," by Hanif Kureishi — the Pakistani-British writer best known for his screenplay "My Beautiful Laundrette" — this is a surprisingly moving film.
Based on stories by Hanif Kureishi ("My Beautiful Laundrette," "Sammy and Rosie Get Laid") and directed by Frenchman Patrice Ch�reau ("Queen Margot"; this is his first English-language film), "Intimacy" is an earnest but ultimately pretentious production.
Adapted by Chereau and Anne-Louise Tridivic from "Intimacy" and "Night Light" by "My Beautiful Laundrette" writer Hanif Kureishi, it stars Mark Rylance and Kerry Fox as lovers who know nothing about each other but meet weekly for searing sexual encounters.
Calendar Live
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Naked poster
However, unlike the themes of sexual exploration and individual empowerment that is pervasive in Breillat's films, Intimacy finds greater commonality with the profoundly desperate and marginalized protagonists of Mike Leigh's equally eviscerating and aptly titled film, Naked (1993), and the Bruno Dumont films, The Life of Jesus (1997) and L'Humanité (1999), where attraction and human desire become inextricably bound to the characters' misguided search for identity, validation, and sense of purpose in an aimless and oppressive existence.
Senses of Cinema
archive.org ↗
The Life of Jesus poster
However, unlike the themes of sexual exploration and individual empowerment that is pervasive in Breillat's films, Intimacy finds greater commonality with the profoundly desperate and marginalized protagonists of Mike Leigh's equally eviscerating and aptly titled film, Naked (1993), and the Bruno Dumont films, The Life of Jesus (1997) and L'Humanité (1999), where attraction and human desire become inextricably bound to the characters' misguided search for identity, validation, and sense of purpose in an aimless and oppressive existence.
Senses of Cinema
archive.org ↗
The Glass Menagerie poster
She's an actress in a dingy production of Tennessee Williams's The Glass Menagerie and her husband Andy (Timothy Spall) drinks and plays pool at the bar that hosts the play.
Ed Gonzalez • Slant Magazine • Oct 9, 2001
slantmagazine.com ↗
Working Girls poster
There is nothing erotic about the film's explicit carnality (a laudable instinct that reminded me a great deal of Lizzie Borden's exceptional Working Girls), but neither is very much insight provided into the cool irony of the film's title: the ways in which frustrated people try and fail to connect with one another.
Walter Chaw • Film Freak Central
archive.org ↗
Love poster
In recent memory, films as diverse as Lars von Trier’s Idioterne (1998), Catherine Breillat’s Romance (1999), Virginie Despentes and Coralie Trinh Thi’s Baise-moi (2000), Patrice Chéreau’s Intimacy (2001), Michael Winterbottom’s 9 Songs (2004), John Cameron Mitchell’s Shortbus (2006) and Abdellatif Kechiche’s 2013 Palme d’Or winner Blue Is the Warmest Colour have all variously attempted to bridge the divide between art and pornography (or, as it is more quaintly known, “erotica”).
Life Is Sweet poster
Audiences may best remember Spall as the quiet, decent family man in "Secrets & Lies" or the foolish gourmet in "Life Is Sweet," but he's also good in loud, disruptive roles.
Fifty Shades of Grey poster
Mark Rylance took the Brando role, and Kerry Fox the Schneider, in the more sexually explicit art-house drama Intimacy in 2001.
Richard Corliss • TIME • Feb 12, 2015
time.com ↗
Cocktail poster
Jay initially seems to be rather callous about these meetings, even bragging to his coworker at the bar about the exploits, setting up an incorrect audience expectation that we�re watching a grittier version of the Tom Cruise vehicle Cocktail, but with more cock and tail.
Movie Martyr
moviemartyr.com ↗
9 Songs poster
In this regard it surpasses Patrice Chéreau's Intimacy (2001), which was the last film to go the whole hog, as it were, in depicting unsimulated sex between two actors.
Secrets & Lies poster
Audiences may best remember Spall as the quiet, decent family man in "Secrets & Lies" or the foolish gourmet in "Life Is Sweet," but he's also good in loud, disruptive roles.
Romance poster
The ironic title, Intimacy, means about as much as the title of Catherine Breillat's equally vapid 1999 film Romance .
Combustible Celluloid
combustiblecelluloid.com ↗
Topsy-Turvy poster
Striking out on his own, he follows Claire back to her lair, which turns out to sport a morose and moribund husband named Andy (Timothy Spall of Mike Leigh's Topsy-Turvy) and yet another broodling.
Sammy and Rosie Get Laid poster
This time around, Chereau is not pulling from French history but two stories: "Intimacy" and "Night Light" by Hanif Kureishi, the gifted writer of "My Beautiful Laundrette," "Sammy and Rosie Get Laid" and "My Son the Fanatic."
The Seattle Times
archive.org ↗
Based on stories by Hanif Kureishi ("My Beautiful Laundrette," "Sammy and Rosie Get Laid") and directed by Frenchman Patrice Ch�reau ("Queen Margot"; this is his first English-language film), "Intimacy" is an earnest but ultimately pretentious production.

That's all the connections!