Lightning,
"Intimacy" is the UK / French arthouse film based upon the novel by Hanif Kursehi. It stars Mark Rylance and Kerry Fox as a two people who meet every week for an hour to have sex.
Rylance plays a recently divorced nightclub / bar manager and Fox is a married actress who's husband (Timothy Spall) is a taxi drive.
However, Rylance becomes obsessed with finding out more about Fox and soon begins to invade her real life much to Fox's distress.
When they meet for sex, they don't speak, they don't talk, they just undress and get it over with. This might sound like a porn film but with grainy film in natural light, no talking or moaning, no false plot and tanned fit bodies, watching them go at it is actually quite distribing.
The scene which caused all the fuss (if you read the Daily Mail) is a few second shot where Fox undertakes oral sex upon Rylance and as a result takes the helmet of his penis into her mouth. It takes place in a very dark lit flat, upon an old matress and soiled sheets. I believe the censors classed the scene as "non-erotic", which is why the film is uncut.
When I saw Intimacy back in 2002, I found the film very depressing as it's about emptiness and loneliness, not erotica or pornography.
Porn films are different as they are met to stimulate and titulate whilst "Intimacy" was stimulating for coffee discussions about the emptiness of these two people, it's not a film you can see and come out with a raging erection.
Anyone expecting a cheap thrill will be sorely disappointed, and it's probably this lack of titulation which means it can be screened "uncut".
Hope I didn't bore everyone too much
Phil
(
phil_h001@yahoo.com)