I think Patrice Leconte is one of the more reliably interesting directors working today. His films have intelligent characters who can usually be counted on to examine their lives and talk about what they are doing and feeling.
Intimate Strangers is, unfortunately, one of his weaker films, which means that it is still worth seeing, but it may not leave much of an impression with you, like some of his other films, such as Ridicule.
The problem is that, for most of the film, only one of the characters, Anna (Sandrine Bonnaire) is doing much examining. The other main character, William (Fabrice Luchini), is all wound up in a ball of repression. He doesn't seem able to get in touch with his feelings, much less be able to express them. After about two thirds of the way through the movie, this character flaw starts to wear the viewer down.
***Possible Spoilers***
Anna is a prospective psychiatric patient, who inadvertently goes into the wrong office and ends up unknowingly confessing to a tax accountant. The tax accountant, William, who blinks and stares in amazement at Anna as she tells him her troubles, remains, for the most part, silent--especially about who he really is, and what his profession is.
This sounds amusing, and in part it is, but the problem is that, as William is written, he is too much of "one note". He's repressed, and unable to express himself, even when it becomes obvious to him and us that he has grown fond of Anna.
In theme, the movie reminds me of another French film of a few years ago, Un coeur en hiver, by Claude Sautet. That was a much better film, I think, because it explored the conflict (inner and outer) of a repressed man who is being pursued by an attractive woman (Emmanuelle Beart, in his case). It was a much sadder and more disturbing film than Intimate Strangers, but I think that is what makes it a better film. Unlike Sautet, Leconte can't seem to make up his mind whether to make his film an exploration of loneliness or a whimsical farce on repression. And in the end it becomes neither.
But it would be unfair to leave the impression that the film is not worth seeing. First, there is the acting. Fabrice Luchini does a wonderful job of portraying William's ever changing states of sorrow, sweetness, and concern--and often portraying the different states only with his eyes. And Sandrine Bonnaire is, as she has always been in anything I have ever seen her in, fascinating to watch. She portrays intelligence, mixed with an air of danger, better than just about any other actress I can think of. There is a real joy watching these two actors play off one another, and to try to figure out what is going on underneath the artiface of behavior.
And second, the supporting characters are very well drawn. Some are funny, like the "real" psychiatrist down the hall from William's office, who appears to be as much a mercenary as he does a healer. And William's secretary, who is just as good at showing what she is feeling by her facial expression, as William is good at hiding what he is feeling. And other characters,like William's ex-lover,are intriguing. She obviously knows William, and we suspect that part of what irritates us about him, after watching him for about an hour, is what has driven her away after what appears to have been years of association. Late in the movie, she ends up expressing the exasperation that many of us in the audience are feeling, when she says, "Either dump her, or hump her". Shockingly well put, I thought.
If you like "French" films, go see it.
Intimate Strangers is, unfortunately, one of his weaker films, which means that it is still worth seeing, but it may not leave much of an impression with you, like some of his other films, such as Ridicule.
The problem is that, for most of the film, only one of the characters, Anna (Sandrine Bonnaire) is doing much examining. The other main character, William (Fabrice Luchini), is all wound up in a ball of repression. He doesn't seem able to get in touch with his feelings, much less be able to express them. After about two thirds of the way through the movie, this character flaw starts to wear the viewer down.
***Possible Spoilers***
Anna is a prospective psychiatric patient, who inadvertently goes into the wrong office and ends up unknowingly confessing to a tax accountant. The tax accountant, William, who blinks and stares in amazement at Anna as she tells him her troubles, remains, for the most part, silent--especially about who he really is, and what his profession is.
This sounds amusing, and in part it is, but the problem is that, as William is written, he is too much of "one note". He's repressed, and unable to express himself, even when it becomes obvious to him and us that he has grown fond of Anna.
In theme, the movie reminds me of another French film of a few years ago, Un coeur en hiver, by Claude Sautet. That was a much better film, I think, because it explored the conflict (inner and outer) of a repressed man who is being pursued by an attractive woman (Emmanuelle Beart, in his case). It was a much sadder and more disturbing film than Intimate Strangers, but I think that is what makes it a better film. Unlike Sautet, Leconte can't seem to make up his mind whether to make his film an exploration of loneliness or a whimsical farce on repression. And in the end it becomes neither.
But it would be unfair to leave the impression that the film is not worth seeing. First, there is the acting. Fabrice Luchini does a wonderful job of portraying William's ever changing states of sorrow, sweetness, and concern--and often portraying the different states only with his eyes. And Sandrine Bonnaire is, as she has always been in anything I have ever seen her in, fascinating to watch. She portrays intelligence, mixed with an air of danger, better than just about any other actress I can think of. There is a real joy watching these two actors play off one another, and to try to figure out what is going on underneath the artiface of behavior.
And second, the supporting characters are very well drawn. Some are funny, like the "real" psychiatrist down the hall from William's office, who appears to be as much a mercenary as he does a healer. And William's secretary, who is just as good at showing what she is feeling by her facial expression, as William is good at hiding what he is feeling. And other characters,like William's ex-lover,are intriguing. She obviously knows William, and we suspect that part of what irritates us about him, after watching him for about an hour, is what has driven her away after what appears to have been years of association. Late in the movie, she ends up expressing the exasperation that many of us in the audience are feeling, when she says, "Either dump her, or hump her". Shockingly well put, I thought.
If you like "French" films, go see it.