Claire (Kerry Fox) and Jay (Mark Rylance) meet on Wednesdays and make love. Without speaking, they share each other's bodies and desires. One day, Claire doesn't show, so Jay decides to find out more about his mysterious captivating lover. The only English-language film from acclaimed filmmaker Patrice Chereau (La Reine Margot), Intimacy was notorious upon its release for its inclusion of explicit sex scenes, but is perhaps now more intriguing to contemporary viewers for featuring Mark Rylance in an early lead role, when he was more renowned for his theatre work and some fifteen years before his Hollywood breakout in Spielberg's Bridge of Spies. Based on a story by Hanif Kureishi (My Beautiful Laundrette), the film is a fascinating example of an outsider's take on what would usually be classed as British social realism; with its focus on emotionally aloof characters striving to find connection amid the harsh locales of South London. Presented here in its unrated 120-minute version as opposed to the 107m cut seen in US cinemas.
Up Next in Modern British Classics
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The Inbetweeners Movie
When one of four teenage friends goes through a break-up, the gang decide the time is right for a Mediterranean holiday. Expecting the trip to be ripe for sexual escapades, the lads are sorely mistaken, and what instead results is them falling head-first into numerous crude and embarrassing antics.
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Hoard
Luna Carmoon's feature debut is an intense and unusual drama, quite unlike anything else you might see this year, which announces a bold and visionary new talent in British cinema. Young Maria lives with her eccentric mother in a home full of love and rising piles of rubbish. Their small world fe...
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Lawrence of Belgravia
As lead singer of the much-loved bands Felt, Denim and Go-Kart Mozart, Lawrence is one of true cult artists of the British indie music scene, without really ever troubling the charts over his 40 year career. First released in 2012, Paul Kelly’s (Saint Etienne’s The London Trilogy, Dexys’ No...
