Movie Review – Intimate Strangers (1994)

I love French cinema for its fresh and non-formulaic approach to human reality. This film directed by Patrice Leconte and written by Jérôme Tonnerre studies an unusual twist on an old theme – what happens when two strangers meet by accident and develop a relationship that none of them quite expected?

In this case, the strangers are Anna, a woman tormented by her husband's lack of affection (played by Sandrine Bonnaire) and William, a tax consultant who is mistaken for a psychotherapist by Anna (and played by Fabrice Luchini).

The situation develops by a deception, or at least an honest mistake when Anna knocks on the door of William's tax preparation office instead of a real shrink a little further down the same corridor.

However, once she takes her seat in front of William's desk and makes it very clear why she is there, William does not have the courage to tell her that he is the wrong party. And after she starts to bare her soul to him including all the intimate details of her deteriorating marriage, it is too late anyhow. The two are now bonded in a strange dance in which both are attracted to each other but neither takes any steps towards more physical intimacy for fear of destroying it.

Sandrine Bonnaire's acting is especially noteworthy. She is neither beautiful in a classical sense nor is she unattractive. Like a complex painting that changes hues under different light conditions, she changes from a scared and paranoid chain-smoker to an alluring and self-assured beauty before our very own eyes. To follow her transformational arc is one of this film's delicious rewards.

The absolute lack of any physical intimacy (except one quick kiss on the cheek) between the two main characters is probably one of the most endearing virtues of this film because 1) it goes strictly against the conventional viewer expectation and thus heightens the plot tension, and 2) it brings out in deeper relief the real value of their relationship – the ability to share the unembellished truth even though William is neither authorized nor properly trained to receive it in a strictly professional sense.

There are a few plot twists and turns throughout the movie that makes us wonder if her knock on William's door in Act 1 was actually an honest mistake or not? Whether she is as troubled as she claims to be, or whether she really has a husband at all? Then, when the guy who claims to be her husband shows up, whether he is really a husband or an accomplice in a complicated plot? And if there is a plot, what is it exactly?

But the last scene of the film wipes away all those "technical questions" and we are left with one overall and gratifying realization that… in this modern day of ours given to power, money and sex, sometimes all we need to develop a tender and genuine relationship is the courage to share our own personal truth. Sometimes that's all it takes to tie a man and woman together forever with or without any carnal exchange in between.

And if that is the case, it means there is still some hope for us all as the members of the human race. And perhaps it also means that psychoanalysis, even in its most amateurish form, is not totally dead either.

A lovely film, shot with great economy and terrific casting. In terms of genre, it falls somewhere in between a romantic comedy and a thriller. An excellent and unusual mix.

Gets a well-deserved 9 out of 10.