A woman with marital problems gives all the intimate details to her new psychiatrist, or so she thinks. Having gone in the wrong office door by mistake, she is in fact telling the secrets of her soul to a lonely tax consultant, who is so enchanted by her (and embarrassed for her) that at first he doesn't tell her he's not really a psychiatrist.
That's the starting point of Intimate Strangers, an engaging film that could be called a mystery of the emotions. It consists mostly of two people talking, and yet it is a thriller of a love story, charged with desire and anticipation.
The film revolves around two superb performances.
William (Fabrice Luchini) is a middle-aged, mild-mannered financial advisor. Until the day the bold and outspoken Anna (Sandrine Bonnaire) mistakes him for a psychiatrist, William's life appears fairly dull. Of course, he tells Anna almost immediately that he isn't really a doctor.
She returns to his office anyway.
Their relationship grows through conversation. William and Anna are very different people, and except for this incident of mistaken identity, it seems unlikely they would ever have crossed paths. Or would they?
At any rate, their conversations continue and Anna introduces troubling details about her husband. And so questions arise. Is Anna sincere? Did she really come to William's office by mistake? Does she always tell the truth? What exactly does her husband want?
And how can you always tell when a female character was written by a man? Oops -- did we type that out loud?
There is a voyeuristic element to the narrative that's somewhat off-putting, and a weak ending to the film, but the performances from Bonnaire and Luchini make Intimate Strangers mostly wonderful to look at. The character of Anna eventually becomes annoying, but never mind.
That's in the writing, not in the acting.
William and Anna interact like a psychiatric doctor and patient, transference and all -- only they keep switching roles.
Intimate Strangers manages to be intimate, intriguing, dramatic and often humorous; the film is in French with English subtitles.
(This film is rated 14-A)
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