Intimate Strangers

2004
6.9| 1h44m| NA| en| More Info
Released: 30 July 2004 Released
Producted By: France 3 Cinéma
Country:
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

Because she picked the wrong door, Anna ends up confessing her marriage problems to a financial adviser named William Faber. Touched by her distress, somewhat excited as well, Faber does not have the courage to tell her that he is not a psychiatrist. From appointment to appointment, a strange ritual is created between them. William is moved and fascinated to hear the secrets no man ever heard.

Genre

Drama, Romance

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Director

Patrice Leconte

Production Companies

France 3 Cinéma

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Intimate Strangers Audience Reviews

Micitype Pretty Good
Sexyloutak Absolutely the worst movie.
Ariella Broughton It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.
Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.
jdandtex-338-717921 Bravo! The French have such a way of understatement and realism in their films. This one concerns a woman who accidentally walks into the wrong office instead of the psychiatrist that she has made an appointment to see. This wonderful film unfolds and develops into something, but you are not sure what until the end. Fabrice Luchini is so unassuming. I've only seen him in a few films, but he already has become a favorite of mine. If you choose to watch this film, there is a scene that is just him. It had me laughing in just the joy of watching him start to come out of his shell. He is one person that I would like to be able to meet in person. Sandrine Bonnaire in the film is attractive, but in an ordinary way, so again, it's realism. She doesn't need to wear a lot of make up, etc. to show that she is a very lovely woman. I liked watching her as she started to become more confident. I could only imagine what an American (yes, I'm American and I love American movies too) version would do to this quiet gem of a movie. My advise to the American film industry, don't try to remake this. It's doesn't need a Reese Witherspoon (not as attractive as Bonnaire I may add) or Scarlett Johansson (too much for the role) or a bumbling Tom Hanks (can't stand him to begin with) or God forbid, Jim Carrey or Will Farrell. Just leave this wonderful French gem alone.
Framescourer There is no coincidence that this film's original score (Pascal Estève) sounds like Bernard Hermann's for Hitchcock's Vertigo. The film is one of mistaken or concealed identities, delusion and obfuscation. It also investigates the equivocal nature of the art/science of professional psychiatry. Above all it's an unnatural story about love.Fabrice Luchini plays his tax consultant mistaken for a shrink as a retentive, inscrutable but humane geek. The effect of Sandrine Bonnaire's neurotic but strident and alluring 'client' engaging him in (initially erroneous) therapeutic conversation is difficult to judge. The only clues offered are in the elliptical relationships he has with other people, such as his former lover (an excellent, cool Anne Brochet) or the real therapist (Michel Duchaussoy, a French Brian Cox).Director Leconte is well-versed in concealing or creating twists and turns in his plots; L'Homme du Train is a good example. The wonder of this quiet but emotionally taught essay in love and understanding is whether the story reveals itself in the experience of watching rather than in its outcome. Evocative, touching but disorientating: and watch a good way through the credits if you don't know quite what I mean by that. 6/10
MagicStarfire **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.
michelerealini 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.