Intimate Strangers (2004) User Reviews

Superb, absorbing psychological dramedy

[anhedonia · 8/10 · 12 September 2004]

[WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS]

What's it about French auteur Patrice Leconte's films? They're essentially talk-fests. Yet, whether he's delving into the life of a reclusive peeping tom, enjoying games of wit at court at Versailles or celebrating a middle-aged man's sensual obsession with getting haircuts from women, Leconte turns simple stories into unforgettable films.

In "Intimate Strangers," Leconte reunites with actress Sandrine Bonnaire and works from a script by Jérôme Tonnerre, who penned the exquisite love story, "Un coeur en hiver" (1992).

Most filmmakers would have saved the twist about Anna (Bonnaire), an attractive woman, finding out the man she believed was a shrink actually is a tax lawyer, William Faber (Fabrice Luchini). But not Leconte. He gives it to us early and uses then that tidbit to make this a mesmerizing film. As Anna returns to William to unload her problems, Bonnaire and Luchini slowly build a thoroughly absorbing intimacy.

Anna reminded me of an older version of Alice, the young woman strangely fascinated by her peeper in Leconte's brilliant, "Monsieur Hire" (1989). So, I suppose, it's fitting that Bonnaire played both women. Just as odd Mr. Hire captivated Alice, Anna finds William intriguing.

Leconte and Tonnerre also toss in a goodly amount of humor. William seeks counsel about Anna from the very man she mistook him for - Dr. Monnier (Michel Duchaussoy), who looks like a stouter John Huston; and William also remains tangled with his ex, Jeanne (Anne Brochet), who hasn't quite gotten over the breakup despite finding a new lover.

Leconte's genius is that he constantly keeps us guessing. Everything may not be quite as it seems in this film. Is someone being conned? We get snippets about Anna from others, including her husband Marc (Gilbert Melki), but they might not be truthful, either.

"Love is an incurable sickness," Marc tells William. That's the crux of this story. William would never tell Anna how enraptured he is by her, but she's too smart not to know this and subtly toys with him. When we first see Anna, she's a drably dressed, a bit nervy. As she visits more often, her confidence grows, her dresses more revealing. In one lovely moment, Leconte tantalizes us with a sly look at her cleavage. Meanwhile, William, who lives and works in the apartment where he was born and now runs his dad's business, also changes, less obviously, but more importantly. He breaks out in rare spontaneity and removes his tie.

This is crafty, witty, sophisticated storytelling, using the vagaries of marriage to create a superbly written psychological drama with deft touches of humor. Leconte revels in subtleties. Nothing's overwrought about his film. There's no sex, but Bonnaire and Luchini make their relationship sexy and deeply romantic. Contrast this with the American film, "The Door in the Floor," which also dealt with marital woes. It was labored and lacked focus, humor and emotional heft; in "Intimate Strangers," Leconte makes William and Anna's scenes more gripping than many suspense yarns.

As I wrote in my review of "Monsieur Hire," I don't know whether only the French are capable of making such movies. But I am glad they do. Because "Intimate Strangers" is one of those films that made me ecstatic to be a cineaste.

A strange relationship

[michelerealini · 8/10 · 3 October 2005]

A woman with marriage problems mistakes a financial adviser for a psychiatrist. She tells him all the secrets of her life, whereas the man has not the strength to tell he's not the person she needs to talk to...

"Confidences trop intimes" is a brilliant film directed by Patrice Leconte, with two big French actors -Fabrice Luchini and Sandrine Bonnaire. The film is an intimate comedy, action is made by good dialogs. There's no boredom at all.

It's an interesting movie which shows a strange relationship growing -maybe the woman understands, later, that she has not found the right person. But she's lonely and needs to talk, at the same time the financial adviser is another lonely person who needs someone who catches him out of a boring life. They have nothing in common, but they are made for each other.

The film has a strong screenplay and is supported by the two leading actors -the scenes are almost always between them. The two characters are very deep, the intensity of their words and of their expression doesn't make you feel that the picture misses something. Because everything it's here. The film is able to picture a situation of everyday life, without developing a foreseen love story... Will the two live a real love relationship? We don't know exactly, there's the same ambiguousness which often dominate the relation between a man and a woman...

A very good movie.

It's all about the relationship

[=G= · 7/10 · 31 December 2004]

In "Intimate Strangers", a beautiful woman wanders into the office of a meek and unassuming tax consultant mistaking it for a psychiatrist's office. When the tax man realizes the error, the woman has already engaged him and wishes to continue their sessions. This relatively uneventful and mostly conversational drama is all about the symbiotic relationship which follows from the chance encounter and how it changes the lives of the pair of protagonists. The film features finely nuanced performances and penetrating insights into the relationship and little more. Don't expect any extremes of emotion, sex, nudity, or other titillaters as it's all about the interpersonal relationship; no more, no less. Excellent for what it is, "Intimate Strangers" will appeal most to mature audiences into French people flicks. (B)

clever and brilliant, a light hearted exploration of the depths

[Fiona-39 · 30 July 2004]

This is a very clever film with a lot to say about life, death, sex, human relationships, human fragility and loneliness - but it does it all with a wonderfully light hearted touch. Luchini dancing just has to be one of the best scenes - eat your heart out Hugh Grant!! Bonnaire is quite wonderful as Anne, literally blossoming before our eyes, her hair lightening, her skin glowing, her dress changing, becoming lighter and brighter. It seems her accidental psychiatrist does help her. Of course, we never know the full truth - can we believe everything she says - and the device of the windows, so key to the film's turning point, is Hitchcockian in the extreme - vision as deception. The most wonderful insight of this film, though, is that paying taxes and dealing with deep disturbing psychological issues have similar concerns - what do you declare and what do you try desperately to hide? And of course, both actions are undertaken in the name of individuals integrating themselves into society. Another excellent film from Leconte. Just because it is so polished and masterful story telling doesn't mean that it doesn't address other issues that a director such as Rohmer would tackle.

It's never too late to follow your star.

[lastliberal · 7/10 · 30 September 2009]

A stranger walks into your life and you find yourself totally captivated. In the hands of Patrice Leconte this is something worth watching.

It is the fourth film of his that I have seen. I watched it mainly for Sandrine Bonnaire, who captivates me as much as she captivated William (Fabrice Luchini).

He is an accountant, and she walked into his office by mistake thinking he was a psychiatrist. Even after they admitted they both knew the truth, she kept coming and he kept waiting for her, even shuffling his real clients out the door.

A fascinating exchange, full of surprises, and well worth watching again.

Polar Opposites Often Do Attract or Repression Meets Expression

[upyrzgwb · 6/10 · 19 September 2006]

Wonderously frustrating viewing for me. I loved how the film was so focused upon the two protagonists repetitive interactions in Luchini's tax office/apartment. Yes, very much akin to a play but interactions that were far from repetitious. Interactions drawing me into the film in an implacable fashion wherein I felt as if I were the proverbial "fly on the wall" of the room. My feelings towards the two main characters were ever changing as the plot developed.

Feeling, at first, what a sick and shallow cad he was to exploit her initial misunderstanding, then; how neurotically shallow she was in her masterful manipulation of his strong (yet, so subtly revealed) need for connection after being rejected by his more normal, and quite attractive, ex lover of seven years.

I found myself continuously pushed and pulled as my support and allegiance vacillated between and for each character. How delicious to not be boxed in to a good girl/bad boy or vice versa type of plot. I love representations of the huge expression of humankind's complexity! Simplification sucks when it comes to humans.

And, barely to mention the supporting characters, all rendered so precisely to the degree necessary to advance the story without being reduced to mere stereotypes. All refreshingly understated, serving to maintain our focus upon the movie's heart - the ongoing development of a relationship between two so dissimilar people.

Leconte's ability to move this relationship forward despite Bonnaire's constant misleads and partial truths along with Luchini's often irritatingly tight leash upon his emotional expression was very masterful. All serving, for me, to set up an increasing sense of tension in need of resolution.

As a rule I dislike pat endings that stifle my imagination. In this case I'd come to care so very much for both characters that I was glad that the ending teasingly allowed me to believe that all likely ended as it was meant to be.

What is intimacy?

[soulurge7 · 7/10 · 1 May 2005]

When I first saw this title I thought this was going to be a movie about modern day romances. We've all had one of these: great sex, fun parties, and lots of good times. But then you start asking, "who is this man or woman that I live/sleep/work with?" And in a way, this film does explore that type of relationship.

But it does so in such an unconventional way that you must be aware of the subtleties in the story. In fact, the story itself sets up a relationship that starts out as being objective for both the man and the woman. The objectivity allows for each of them to assess their feelings during the first two encounters.

But very quickly the external facts of the roles the main characters play in life becomes clear to each of them. This sets up another challenge. How will they or should they even continue their relationship knowing that a connection has been made through their interaction? And what is that connection? The plot takes both the man and the woman through some frightening times. Because of their relationship, each has to confront others in their lives. And finally they must confront each other and themselves. That is a tall order in today's world for a man and a woman who aren't even living together and who have not ever had sex with each other. But not acting on (or maybe the lack of) sexual lust turns out to be the key. Although the woman talks about her sex life, and we see the man still has ties to an old lover, both seem to be searching for something more than sexual intimacy. Not that sexual intimacy needs to be excluded in a relationship, but there must be something more intimate.

Intimate Strangers: Sensual, Hitchcock-ian Mystery...

[coffee_N_cigz · 9/10 · 15 April 2005]

Patrice Leconte has long been one of my favourite directors...his predominate theme is simple...the intimate connection between two lonely strangers; evident in his previous classics....GIRL ON THE BRIDGE (1999) & MAN ON THE TRAIN (2002)...With INTIMATE STRANGERS, his characters meet by mistake...Anna (Bonnaire) is a beautiful, mysterious woman who has suddenly walked through the door of William's (Luchini) office in need of his professional counsel...however, she has mistaken his office for her psychiatrist's & has mistaken William to be a shrink...

INTIMATE STRANGERS is an elegant film...it has the feel & pace of an old noir film of the past where an equally beautiful & mysterious woman walks suddenly into the office of a private eye on some dark, stormy night...Leconte deals with the mind of a woman...revealing her deepest thoughts & desires...teasing us with every appointment between the two strangers...Bonnaire is intense & uninhabited as the distraught Anna & Luchini is the perfect compliment to keep the mode & atmosphere light when it needs to be...

Overall: Gorgeous looking film; camera work is almost excellent, shots over the shoulder seem almost voyeuristic...as if we are eavesdropping or tailing the characters....definitely one of the best Leconte films & one of the best of '04...

plenty of amusing moments along the way

[christopher-underwood · 7/10 · 10 January 2007]

Immediately after watching this film, I was (unusually) not inclined to put my views to paper. I think I was vaguely disappointed and felt the film too inconsequential. On reflection, I have a fond feeling for it and suppose that my initial reservation was partly that there seemed so little to it. A woman goes into talk about herself to a psychiatrist and accidentally goes into a tax advisor's office instead. Nice idea but where does it lead? Well, dramatically it doesn't send us off into a great labyrinthine storyline but there is plenty to stir the grey matter and plenty of amusing moments along the way. Very good and likable performances by the two leads and good secondary ones from the elderly secretary, who really doesn't approve and the psychiatrist she was supposed to see, who also really doesn't approve! He does however make the inspired comment that the two men are perhaps not that far apart as they both cater to those who are coping with what not and what to reveal. Not so bad after all and well worth a watch.

Intriguing, minimalist, and yet uplifting

[PAolo-10 · 9/10 · 11 September 2004]

It is sometimes difficult to walk the fine line between comedy and banality, as well as hiding all the wire and papier mâché that form the construct known as thriller. "Confidences trop intimes" cunningly avoids the traps of both genres by simply shaking the constructs off, layer by layer.

The movie belongs to a genre, "comédie dramatique" ("dromedy"?) which usually in US movies is reserved for romance "chick flicks". Yet these intimate strangers bring quite a bit more to the screen. It's a pleasant relief to see them saying so much with so little, avoiding those deep memorable lines that are so out of place in the mouth of the common people movies of these kind are supposed to represent.

It's by juxtaposition that Leconte achieves the best effect, by not saying too much and underplaying it, always. In one memorable scene the lonely célibataire glances at the stages of life through his window. Through the glass of the opposite building he sees passion, argument and old age as the seemingly inevitable stages of life. His life seems codified, chosen by others and kept and controlled, in the good and in the bad: add the secret ingredient, an excellent Sandrine Bonnaire, and stir.

The film amusingly deconstructs the myth of psychoanalysis, and thanks to the great empathy of the Luchini character, succeeds in expressing the inexpressible, the desire, the longing sometimes solitary and hopeless. 9/10!

Another fine character study by Leconte

[rosscinema · 6/10 · 21 August 2004]

Most of this story takes place in an office but the conversations that are going on during the films length provide more than enough information for viewers to get a good understanding of what these characters lives are really like. Story is about a woman named Anna Delambre (Sandrine Bonnaire) who goes to see a psychiatrist but makes a wrong turn and ends up in the wrong office spilling her guts about her crumbling marriage. William Faber (Fabrice Luchini) runs an accounting business but as Anna keeps talking he doesn't mention that she's in the wrong place and after she is finished she mentions that she will be back next week at the same time. Anna keeps showing up until finally she figures out who he is and at first she's angry but shows up later and tells him that she wants to continue their sessions.

*****SPOILER ALERT*****

Anna slowly tells William about her husband Marc (Gilbert Melki) and that she accidentally hit him with the car and crippling him and that he wants her to make love to other men. William gets advice from Dr. Monnier (Michel Duchaussoy) who is the real psychiatrist down the hall and gets charged for his visits but he also gets advice from his ex-wife Jeanne (Anne Brochet) who has rekindled her affection for him but William seems to get more out of talking with Anna than she does.

This film is directed by Patrice Leconte who is steadily becoming one of the more important directors in Europe and like his previous efforts his stories usually revolve around characters that are impressed by the lives of others or men that become fascinated by certain women and "The Hairdresser's Husband" is the perfect example. Bonnaire's character of Anna is the most mysterious and even when the film is over your not sure if everything she had to say is accurate which is why Luchini would be drawn to her. The script allows both Bonnaire and Luchini to develop an intense relationship without actually ever getting physical but the way these characters stare at one another says volumes in the way they really feel about each other. While this quiet film doesn't have the overpowering message of other Leconte stories such as "Ridicule" it still has a uniqueness in it's own intimate storytelling.

An Original Affecting Romantic Comedy Featuring an All-Too-Human Tax Lawyer!

[lawprof · 8/10 · 26 July 2004]

"Intimate Strangers" brings to the screen an off-beat, original relationships comedy (with real drama too). Fabrice Luchini is Parisian tax lawyer William Faber who lives and works in the apartment he grew up in. His dad was a tax attorney and here the audit didn't fall far from the tree. He's not unhappy, his practice is flourishing, but inspired he's not either.

Almost falling into his office/pad is Anna Delambre, the sharp and beguiling actress, Sandrine Bonnaire. Anna has an ADD history with spatial disorientation deficit so she messes up a simple direction to the therapist's office where she's scheduled for an initial appointment. Instead of the shrink's domain she enters Faber's den and, unaware of her mistake, begins telling a tale of marital discord to the initially unaware counsel who thinks he has a new law client.

It doesn't take long for Faber to realize there's a mistake but he's become intrigued by her and so he schedules a second "therapy" consultation. Faber is sorting through (perhaps without full insight) his feelings about the recent breakup with his live-in girlfriend, Jeanne, Anne Bouchet. Anne is hooked up with a stereotyped muscle man (meaning a harmless jerk) but the two still spend time together including "off the cuff" sex. Bouchet is sympathetically real and touching, in a quiet way, as a smart woman who may not be as sure of what she wants as she claims.

William and Anne continue meeting regularly at his office even after the latter discovers her mistake. Initial anger melts away and a platonic but increasingly intertwined relationship develops to the consternation and barely concealed exasperation of Faber's matronly secretary, Madame Mulon, Mulon, beautifully acted by Helene Surgere, was Faber's dad's secretary and she came with the office. Technophiles will get a kick out of watching her work with a twentieth century electric document production device.

The dark side is Anna's lying to her supposedly impotent hubby about her simmering affair which the guy assumes, with the aid of a private investigator, is Faber. Anna is trying to get her no longer enraptured-with-her spouse back without first considering if that's really the best thing for her.

Slightly plain at the beginning of "Intimate Strangers," Anna morphs into a striking lady as she becomes more confident about handling her life's issues.

Veteran director and acclaimed French auteur Patrice Leconte has made the most of a film that largely centers on intense conversations in small places. The ultimate resolution is no less believable for its predictability.

A good evening at an art cinema.

8/10.

A little too quiet

[paul2001sw-1 · 7/10 · 8 February 2007]

There's an intriguing premise behind Patrice Leconte's film 'Intimate Strangers': a tax consultant starts receiving visits from a woman who mistakes him for a therapist, but in time he starts to wonder whether it is in fact she who is deceiving him. With nice performances from its small cast, the film avoids descending into pure thriller, but unfortunately suffers from the opposite vice: that while the premise is enticing, the film never truly moves beyond it, ultimately there's too little story here and that which does exist feels somewhat contrived. In other words, the subtlety of the mood shifts within the story are overshadowed by the mechanics used to bring these about: the result is quiet and distinctive film, but also a modest one.

Odd little film that never really comes to anything

[MagicStarfire · 4/10 · 9 June 2006]

**WARNING THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS**

4 stars out of 10.

That is, this review would contain spoilers if the film had any plot, and if anything had ever happened in the film.

This French film intriguingly teases us, but it never really comes to anything.

It begins with an interesting premise, a somewhat attractive woman has an appointment with a psychiatrist, but she mistakenly goes to the office door of a tax attorney who is in the same building.

Once there, she begins to tell him of her marital woes, and at first he doesn't realize the mistake she has made, since he frequently hears personal tales from his clients that are similar to hers.

Eventually the truth comes out, but she continues to come and see him, and they continue to talk, again and again and again and again.

Then finally, when we are at least halfway into the film, her husband, Marc, shows up at the attorney's office. This confrontation doesn't come to anything and neither does the one or two others that occur between the tax attorney and the husband.

Apparently, a deeply troubled person can confide to a tax attorney and get just as much help as they would if they went to a qualified psychologist, at least if we are to judge from this film.

Finally we learn that the somewhat prim and proper tax attorney is in love with Anna, but again it comes to nothing. He never tells her he is in love with her, and no intimacy or anything even remotely romantic or sexual ever occurs between the two of them.

They break off their "therapy-type" sessions for awhile, but by the end of the film they have resumed them.

Highly recommend

[topatate16 · 24 September 2004]

I actually went to my local "art house" movie theater to see "Napoleon Dynamite." I walked out of that movie after the first 10 minutes and walked into the movie playing in the room next to it, which happened to be "Intimate Strangers." I had no idea what this movie was about - in fact, had never heard of it but anything had to be better than "Napoleon Dynamite." What a pleasant surprise. Even though I missed the very beginning of the film, I figured out that Anna had a reversal problem and was visiting the wrong professional.

This movie explores a relationship of the mind, only hinting at the sexual. How refreshing!

This movie was entrancing. I fell in love with all of the characters. Who could not fall in love with Anna? How many times has a stranger walked into your life and you've found yourself captivated? Once - maybe twice? Perhaps I can ask that question since I met my husband due to circumstances that allowed our paths to cross (and any change in the smallest decision would have meant we would never have met) and within three days, we were planning a wedding. That was 20 years ago.

So no wonder I love this movie!

Leconte and the soul secrets

[rainking_es · 7/10 · 4 May 2007]

A guy with a rather mediocre life opens the door of his office and finds there a woman who mistakes him for a shrink. He has no time to react so he let the woman tell him about her troubles. Anyway they'll find in each other kind of a exhaust valve for their lives.

The story in Lceonte's movie gives raise to several reflections: sometimes is easier to tell your deepest secrets to an unknown. There are not misunderstandings, there are not prejudices, there are not emotional walls to overcome. "Confidences" also states that the power of a psychoanalyst is quite debatable.

As for the cast, the actors are just nice. Sandrine Bonnaire looks as mysterious as always.

*My rate: 7.5/10

An honest story that could be a chapter out of real life

[Thomas_S · 8/10 · 25 January 2007]

No special effects, no computer animation, no supernatural forces, no gloss, no predictability.

Real life! There is nothing in the story that could not have happened somewhere some time. Told with beauty, humour, understatement, feelings, sensitivity. Leaving you time to think instead of throwing one visual effect after another at you. There is time for detail. Time for silence. Time for emotions. But you are never bored.

The story is simple, yet you are grabbed by it and led into its mystery.

The atmosphere marvellously represents real life in France at the time the film was made. No shining up. No simplification. This is real France. Sandrine Bonnaire and Fabrice Luchini are very convincing in their roles. The behaviour of the secretary is incredibly real.

This is French cinema near its best.

Beautifully nuanced

[paulnewman2001 · 8/10 · 18 April 2005]

When a beautiful young woman mistakenly enters the office of a grey, quiet tax expert and, mistaking him for a therapist, shares her marital problems, she inadvertently sparks an unlikely, bittersweet friendship between them.

Even when the truth comes out, Anna (Sandrine Bonnaire) and William (Fabrice Luchini) continue to see each other, she coming to rely on his non-judgemental ear and he slowly becoming spellbound by her.

Patrice Leconte conjures up some of the sad, poignant atmosphere of Monsieur Hire but frames within it a much more optimistic story while eliciting two beautifully nuanced performances from his leads.

secrets beyond the door

[dbdumonteil · 8/10 · 20 August 2007]

Anna (Sandrine Bonnaire) has an appointment with her analyst, doctor Monnier (Michel Duchaussoy) to tell him her sentimental problems. But because of a little talky concierge and dimly lit, somewhat eerie corridors, she lands in William Faber's office (Fabrice Lucchini) who is a financial adviser. Expect the unexpected at least for a short time. Rather than telling her that he's not the right man to talk to, he listens to her very carefully and sets up a second appointment with her. The following week, he reveals her the truth but agrees to see her as many times as she wants to. Anna accepts his offer and these two idiosyncratic characters strike up an ambiguous relationship which will partly unveil their respective personalities, at least for William.

"Confidences Trop Intimes" is the successor of a peak in Patrice Leconte's eclectic filmography, "l'Homme Du Train" (2002) and if it doesn't exactly match the greatness of this film, it nonetheless remains a true winner which encompasses everything that makes Patrice Leconte a worthwhile filmmaker. First with this original starting point: a woman who was badly directed in a building winds up in an office belonging to a character who is a total stranger to her. But as doctor Monnier says: "there isn't a big difference between a shrink and a financial adviser: they have to define and solve their customers' problems. The difference is that to a financial adviser's his problems are bare while to an analyst's they're hidden".

Ambiguity is one of the key words to describe the relationships between William and Anna. Is Anna really in bad terms with her eccentric husband (stout Gilbert Melki)? Doesn't she try to manipulate her partner? Isn't she a little crazy? They're exciting questions that call upon the viewer's imagination. As for William, one realizes that the sort of therapy that links the two characters is mainly destined to him. He's probably THE main character of the whole film. At first, he seems strong but bit by bit he proves that he's a fragile character who yearns to change his life. His unexpected meeting with Anna gives him this opportunity and makes him elated for a while (see the delightful sequence when he dances to "in the Midnight Hour" by Wilson Pickett). But then his real personality appears: he's a rather vulnerable man who has trouble with women and perhaps that's why his wedding with his former wife (Anne Brochet) went unravel. Besides she tells him that he didn't make the first move to meet her.

Leconte is well served by his duo of actors and it's a real surprise to discover and appreciate Fabrice Lucchini in an introverted man whereas he is usually typecast in extrovert roles. Sandrine Bonnaire makes an ideal partner. One should also hail the filmmaker for having discerningly chosen the scenery of this idiosyncratic in camera. Dimly lit corridors and rooms are deftly incorporated to the plot and give a sultry sensation to the ambiguous relationship between William and Anne, a strong point that was tapped fifteen years ago in "Monsieur Hire" (1989) when Michel Blanc was alone in his cramped flat. Sandrine Bonnaire was then her partner. So, when the camera goes out into the open air, the interest depletes a little in spite of good moments. While I'm writing about this shortcoming, I could also regret a misunderstanding too quickly solved (the second time when William and Anna meet again, he tells her that he's not the right person) and mention a too much cozy end.

But overall, when you have a strongly built story which has a lot of space for surprises and the development of its characters and a lot of food for thought, you can skip without problems conspicuous faults and leave the projection with a big smile on your face. Once again Leconte filled me with joy. Recommended to his aficionados.

NB: the film was turned into a play three years later.

Talk, talk, talk

[Enid-3 · 2/10 · 2 July 2005]

No I did not find this film sexy, nor did it lead me to any great psychological or philosophical insights. It was what we used to say about unsatisfactory dates when I was an adolescent, "NATO" - No Action, Talk Only. I just kept twitching, wishing the bloody thing would END already. It was just a lot of endless blither, and, as such, effectively numbed any concern I might have had for the characters, rather than cause any empathy with them.

One additional problem I had with the print I saw was that the voices and lip motions were poorly synchronized - almost as if it had been badly dubbed into Franch from another language, which, considering that all the principal actors were born in France, probably was not the case. Perhaps other prints were better.

Niystill, as one critic said about O'Neill's "The Iceman Cometh" "It boreth, me snoreth, me thinketh it stinketh.".

An interesting trip to the doctor

[wspears · 31 August 2004]

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 confidences

[jotix100 · 8/10 · 4 September 2004]

This is basically a two character movie. It feels a bit theatrical in that it takes place in one set, with only a few scenes outside of the office where the two main characters meet.

Spoilers herein.

Patrice Leconte has created a film that strikes us as a mystery. The screen play by Jerome Tonerre is witty, sophisticated and light. It's easy to see how the writer and the director conspired to bring these two different persons to meet and share their intimate confidences with us, who are hypnotized by the proceedings.

Anna, has an attention disorder and gets easily confused with the directions the building porter gives her as to where to go. Instead she enters the office of William, who is not the person she is supposed to meet, at all.

William is a man who is bored with his lot in life. When Anna comes into his office, he awakes from his loneliness. We can't even imagine what he and his former wife, Jeanne, had in common. He is a loner who feels right at home listening to his old records (he still hasn't discovered CDs). At one point we see a scene in which William is listening to a popular dance song and he breaks into his own interpretation of it in front of a mirror; he shows that deep down inside of him, there's a man that is alive.

At one point in the film William goes to see his neighbor, the real analyst, that Anna has confused him with, trying to make sense on what is going on. Is he being analyzed by Dr. Monnier? Mr. Leconte is constantly sending us in different directions; he wants us to look at different aspects of the situation and perhaps wants to confuse us along the way.

Anna talks to William about the things in her mind. She lies when she tells him about the 'accident' she had caused to her husband, when in reality nothing like that ever happened. Marc turns out to be a young man who senses he is losing Anna to William. He stages the reunion with Anna in the hotel across the street from William to show him he is really alive and can perform well in bed!

Sandrine Bonnaire as Anna, has never been used as effectively as she is in this movie. She is an actress that is difficult to place, but once she takes on a role, she is that person. Fabrice Luchini has worked with M. Leconte before. He has a face that blends in with all his characters. As William, he achieves perfection in this film.

This is a strangely Intimate Film.

[dhaufrect-1 · 9/10 · 18 March 2005]

"Intimate Strangers" is a very well done cinema. In keeping with the title, it is a strange and intimate film. Sandrine Bonnaire plays Anna. She is very seductive and encounters a tax attorney who is mistaken for the psychoanalyst, William, whose practice is next door. Fabrice Luchini plays the tax attorney who is strangely silent during his encounter with this distraught woman. In fact, he is very interested in listening to her personal and sometimes lurid story. The actual psychiatrist, Dr. Monnier, is played well by Michel Duchaussoy. Indeed, Duchaussoy becomes the temporary analyst for Luchini's character. This film is now on DVD. It is one of the best foreign films I have seen. The concept belongs to the writer. The humor is beyond description. Don't let this one slip by. It is a must for serious movie viewers.

A Contemplation of Inaction and Loneliness

[mar3429 · 9/10 · 17 September 2006]

Intimate Strangers is one of the most unique love stories that I have viewed in my life. It features two lonely individuals--one who has no one to talk and another who is an accomplished listener who will not say and cannot say what is on his mind.

Mr. Faber, the tax attorney pressed into service as a therapist due to a case of mistaken identity ,reveals himself as being terribly repressed. He is a good man. He is honest, honorable, well-ordered and caring. He is also utterly incapable of either making the first move or of forcing a choice, as his off-and-on girlfriend Jeanne reminds him. This appears to be the reason that the two of them cannot make their romance a permanent one. She is aware of his attributes but cannot forgive his flaws. Indeed, some her actions with her new boyfriend and Mr. Faber seem calculated to force a response. She would prefer William Faber, but wishes him to claim her. He cannot.

Throughout the film, William Faber makes an inviting target. He is a closed individual, but only marginally more so than the other characters in the film. The other characters just hide it better. They are just as lonely and just as stuck as Faber. At one point he reminds Jeanne that when he first met her she was going to be a novelist, instead she contented herself with filing and stacking books away at a library. Jeanne appears thunderstruck when he slaps her across the face with that intimate secret. Nonetheless, you do find yourself wondering how Faber got to be Faber. The fact that one of the main characters remains shrouded in mystery is the one weakness of this otherwise excellent film.

Anna, Faber's patient/doctor is the focus of the film and she gives an excellent performance. I call her patient/doctor because her relationship with Faber is symbiotic. During the course of the film the two of them heal one another. Unlike Faber, Anna is aware of the dynamics between them and its nature. At one point a patient of Dr. Monnier asks Anna about her therapist. "I'm his only patient. He needs me," Anna responds. In fact, for much of the film, the true question is just how aware if Anna? A missing memento and a going away gift to Mr. Faber call into question whether Anna has launched him upon a quest, one where he can ultimately prove that there was something more to their meetings than two lonely people talking. Or is it just happenstance?

Reading some of the comments of other viewers of this film I find that many are disappointed that Mr. Faber did not have more of an arc to his character. I would submit that it seems so small because he had so very far to go. The changes evidenced at the end of the film, while modest, were monumental for him. Like others, I was disappointed when given a chance to explain why he had sought her out he fudged the answer. However, as the credits rolled I watched him traverse the greatest distance in his life. He moved from his chair, to a table to pick up an ashtray, to sit on the couch beside Anna and share a cigarette together. A first move. Surely Anna will know what to do with that!

See me...Feel me...Touch me...Heal me...

All in all this is a great film.

A little bit taxing

[fanbaz-549-872209 · 3/10 · 19 May 2016]

The plot is from farce. Old as the hills. Mistaken identity. It is the stuff of many a great comedy but this film is not funny. It is as dull as only the French can make dull films. Words. Words. And more words. In short, an unhappy married woman looking for her new shrink walks into the tax office next door. Yep. That's the hook. The guy that plays the taxman who is thought to be a shrink has got a couple of expressions. Big eyes, and even bigger eyes. Shocked and surprised eyes. But he doesn't have much else. An old office and hard to believe, not a computer in sight. The leading lady smokes a lot and tells him all her rude secrets. Wow! Light the fuse. Fun! Er... no. This is France. No fun. Just lots of terrible corny clichés like at the end when the dim witted woman flicks her lighter to show the flame of love is still there. I won't go on. This film is garbage and I only give it any stars at all for the idea not embraced.