Intimate Strangers
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Movie Reviews of Intimate Strangers
Movie Review: In The Spider's Lair
Summary: 4 Stars
Anna (Sandrine Bonnaire) enters an old office building, goes up to the sixth floor and rings the buzzer to be lead into the office of William (Fabrice Luchini), a Tax advisor. Anna talks pretty much non-stop about her marriage, her brutish husband, and her lack of sex life. Then stops, gets up and leaves: having embarrassed herself by her ramblings. There is a problem though: Anna thinks that William is her new therapist and William, seemingly so fascinated with Anna that he says nothing to the contrary even going so far as to schedule another appointment for the following week.
Director Patrice Leconte has plowed this territory before especially in his "Man on the Train" and the ruse succeeds for as long as it needs to as William comes clean to Anna early on in the film. Nonetheless, Anna continues to spill her guts to William and a sort of friendship develops between the two.
Most of "Intimate Strangers" takes place in William's stuffy conservative office and Anna is dressed in layers of dark colored heavy clothing. But as she blossoms from the benefits of her "analysis," her makeup, hair, clothing becomes lighter and more revealing: obvious but effective. William also changes and there is one odd though funny scene of him dancing solo a la Tom Cruise in "Risky Business" to Otis Redding's "Try a Little Tenderness" that has to be seen to be believed.
"Intimate Strangers" is a strange little movie that expects a lot from its viewers but just manages to stay on our good side by treating us like we have some intelligence and taste. Though it teeters on the edge of facetiousness, it doesn't ever make the leap over.
Movie Review: The risks of being spatially dyslexic
Summary: 4 Stars
Anna's spilling her guts to a tax accountant, mistaking his office for that of a therapist down the hall, is rendered understandable when she explains that she gets lost easily, confuses right with left, etc. The accountant can't get a word in edgewise as this woman unloads intimate details of her relationship with her lover; his face undergoes a huge range of befuddled emotions, and suddenly, without him quite realizing how all this could be happening, he find himself confirming an appointment with her for the next week.
Until that day, the accountant's life had been pretty boring, and he expected nothing more. The volatility of Anna's presence, her interest in continuing to use him as a sounding board even after she discovers her mistake, and the attachment that develops between these two `strangers' is funny, touching, and revelatory.
Top-notch.
Movie Review: THE TALKING CURE
Summary: 4 Stars
Thinking she's keeping an appointment with a psychiatrist, a woman (Sandrine Bonnaire) enters a tax accountant's office by mistake and spills her guts.
Patrice Laconte's INTIMATE STRANGERS (Paramount) is a wonderful film. Elegant, intelligent and visually rich, it examines the growing bond between two people who start out knowing nothing about each other. Even after misunderstandings about identity are erased in the first act, the oddly platonic, verbal therapeutic relationship for both continues. Laconte has masterfully examined this central notion in the widely divergent but brilliant "Man on a Train," "Girl on a Bridge," and "The Widow of St. Pierre." (All worth owning for repeated viewings.) In French with English subtitles.
Movie Review: No subtitle control
Summary: 4 Stars
On this edition of the DVD, there is no subtitle control; you cannot turn off the English subtitles.
To my view, the film begins a little slowly. The viewer gradually finds the film more involving, as our accountant, William, becoms more and more interested in his new client, Anna. As a point of reference, I do not find the film quite as good as L'homme du train (The Man on the Train) and La fille sur le pont (The Girl on the Bridge), but it is almost as appealing.
Movie Review: Intimate Strangers
Summary: 4 Stars
An attractive woman walks into an office she believes to be that of a psychiatrist and proceeds to reveal her innermost secrets to a baffled tax lawyer. Cue conflict, misunderstandings and wary mutual attraction. That's it really, but charmingly done with good performances and just a hint of underlying menace. Those who are afraid to `make the first move' or have ever regretted not doing so may find themselves squirming in identification with the male character. Enjoyable.