Intimacy (2001) was co-written and directed by Patrice Chéreau. The movie stars Mark Rylance as Jay, the head barman at a club. Somehow, he has met Claire, played by Kerry Fox. To Jay's surprise, Claire reappears every Wednesday at his apartment to have sex with him. (That's the only way to phrase it. They don't talk, and there's no foreplay. They just tear their clothes off and go at it.) There's plenty of nude scenes of both Fox and Rylance. However, it's not really erotic, because the apartment is so dirty and unkempt that all I could think of was "it's disgusting."

Matters would have apparently continued along in this way, except that Jay wants to know more about Claire. He manages to track her down to a pub/theater, where she's starring in "The Glass Menagerie." This brings him into contact with Andy, Claire's husband, played brilliantly by Timothy Spall.

The plot really begins at this point, and I will carefully avoid explaining what happens next. I won't avoid saying that the plot appeared contrived and, basically, ridiculous. I wasn't familiar with the work of Kerry Fox, but she's an excellent actor. Rylance and Spall are great actors. It's hard to understand just what went wrong with this film. Some reviewers have suggested that director could have made a better movie in France than in England. Maybe we in the English-speaking world think that this bizarre plots works better if the actors are smoking Gauloises and drinking wine, rather than smoking Mayfairs and drinking ale.

If you really want to see this movie, you'll have to decide whether you want to see all the sex (unrated version) or just the suggestion of sex (R-rated version). The movie has no real outdoor scenes, so it will work as well on DVD (which is how we saw it) as it will on the large screen. This isn't a great movie for anyone. If you want porn, buy porn. If you want narrative drama, buy narrative drama. Intimacy promises both, and gives you neither.

This was not the first nor the last movie that used hardcore sex as a mainstream movie. Could it have worked without us seeing all the nudity and the explicit sex? I think yes, but it does make a point in how disconnected sex and feelings can be. Hence the title we get. This is a drama, so it is not totally there to be a viewing pleasure (no pun intended) or just plain arouse the viewer.

We get relationships and issues within - how sex is a substitute ... but also something we seek! Sometimes knowing it won't actually bring us more than a quick satisfaction - quite literally. How can it be sustained? The acting is really good and you probably will care for them, which of course is a good thing. I never came around watching this until now - I thought the sex was just there to shock us into watching it, but there is more here than that.

What`s the point this film is trying to make ? I don`t get it , a woman comes round to a man`s house , they have sex and boy are they having sex , man follows the woman around and that`s basically it . Is there a plot involved ? No . Are the characters sympathetic ? No . Would you want to watch this with your family ? No . Would you want to watch this on your own ? I know some people would but they`d only be watching for the sex scenes know what I mean ?

INTIMACY is really an art house porn film that has no redeeming features for anyone who watches films for entertainment purposes and is especially frustrating for budding screenwriters who find their scripts turned down because " The plot is underdeveloped " . At least the scripts I`ve written had a plot