INTIMATE STRANGERS (Confidence Trop Intimes)
Anna Delambre (Sandrine Bonnaire, "Monsieur Hire") seeks a psychologist to
discuss her rather bizarre marital situation. The young woman, who has
trouble reading and telling left from right, knocks on the wrong door on
her way to the office of Docteur Monnier (Michel Duchaussoy, "Amen").
Instead she becomes the last appointment of the day for tax accountant
William Faber (Fabrice Luchini, "On Guard"), who initially assumes he's
been engaged to handle a divorce. William becomes entranced by the
troubled young woman, though, and has difficulty correcting her mistake.
When she discovers it on her own, her confessions begin to take even
stranger twists that turn Anna and William into "Intimate Strangers."
Cowriter (with Jerome Tonnerre)/director Patrice Leconte ("Man on the
Train," "Monsieur Hire") revisits themes from his 1989 film "Monsieur
Hire," but where that film was lonely and dark, "Intimate Strangers"
steadily progresses into the light. Sandrine Bonnaire, who last worked
with Leconte on "Hire" is wonderfully mysterious, but it is Luchini, the
'"Hire" apparent,' who steals the show.
Leconte shows a devilish side immediately, when Anna arrives at Monnier and
Faber's gloomy office building. She's admitted by a landlady intent upon a
television drama where a woman tells her husband that she'd rather confess
her secrets to her priest than to him. Faber is flummoxed by Anna's frank
admissions regarding her husband Marc's (Gilbert Melki, "The Trilogy") lack
of desire for her and tongue tied when she books her next appointment. He
takes his quandary to his ex, Jeanne (Anne Brochet, "The Story of Marie and
Julien"), who obviously counsels fessing up, but the next meeting only
drags Faber deeper into Anna's spell. He visits Monnier for advice (and,
most humorously, is charged 120 Euros for the session).
Anna discovers the mixup and is furious with Faber, but she returns and
continues her tale of a husband who encourages her to take a lover, a role
Faber clearly would love to fill. Yet when he asks if she's afraid she
might fall in love, her response implies rejection.
Leconte doesn't shy away from the dark here, particularly when the
disturbing Marc enters the picture, but lighter comedy is never far at
hand. The character of Monnier is an amusing advisor, recouping his lost
income from Faber even as he observes that they are both in the business of
deciding what to declare and what to hide. "Intimate Strangers" turns the
old 'death and taxes' saw inside out via the psychological pairing of sex
and death (note how Monnier screws a pencil within a sharpener as he prods
and pokes Faber in his office). Faber's character is seduced by Anna just
as he is being emasculated by his ex-lover Jeanne, who shows off her new
muscle bound boyfriend Luc (Laurent Gamelon, "The Closet") while remaining
intellectually attached to William. Clucking disapprovingly over the
closed door proceedings is Faber's secretary Madame Mulon (Hélène Surgère,
"Le Divorce," strongly suggesting a Gallic Gena Rowlands), a mother figure
whose former 'dishiness' once tempted William's father in the same office.
The voyeuristic theme from "Hire" is repeated time and time again here, as
Faber listens to Anna's secrets and even resorts to following her. It is a
final, ironically orchestrated bit of spying that makes William stand up
and call Anna's bluff.
Luchini is fabulous, a man who doesn't realize his downtrodden state until
he is mistaken for someone else, yet he is never passive. He's hilarious
shooting down the over familiarity of Luc ('Next time, let's kiss OK?') and
joyous dancing alone to Wilson Pickett's "In the Midnight Hour" in the
early stages of the relationship. That dance is touching, too, just as
Luchini's silent yearning is. Bonnaire maintains sympathy even when her
actions can be interpreted as cruel. She projects the character's path from
dark to light, which is also symbolized in gradual changes to hair and
costume. Cinematography by the great Eduardo Serra ("Girl with a Pearl
Earring") moves the entire film from the dark, drab corridors of Faber's
apartment to the literal light of Southern France (production design by
Ivan Maussion, "The Man on the Train"). Pascal Estève's ("The Man on the
Train") score adds Hitchcockian undertones.
Leconte's ambiguous ending is difficult to decipher, however. The
landlady's soap ends with the revelation that the priest is gay and we
never do discover the nature of Anna's warped marital situation. Still,
"Intimate Strangers" is fully satisfying, the work of a master whose
romanticism is never sentimental.
A-
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