Intimacy
Empire Pictures Inc. | Release Date: October 19, 2001 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
69
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 23 Critic Reviews
Positive:
16
Mixed:
7
Negative:
0

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Mr. ShowbizKevin Maynard
A new version of the greatest psychological mystery of all: love.
100
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
Vibrating with humanity, it's a potent portrait of love, ranging from the purely carnal to the impurely sublime. Read full review
90
Chicago ReaderRichard M. Porton
Chereau's film is both an observant portrait of class-bound London by a foreigner and an empathetic look at sexual passion that completely avoids cheap prurience. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
A triumph for all concerned, it is especially so for the multitalented Chereau. Read full review
80
L.A. WeeklyManohla Dargis
Although much has and will be made of the film's sexual explicitness -- and, yes, it is a bit -- this less-than-perfect but deeply felt film is finally most daring for its hard-core insistence on our need for connection. Read full review
80
Rolling StonePeter Travers
It isn't the sex that shocks here, it's the chilling core of loneliness. Intimacy dares to cut deep, and its daring gets to you. Read full review
80
SlateDavid Edelstein
Intimacy doesn’t answer the question, which makes it all the more tantalizing: This is an emotional puzzle movie. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleEdward Guthmann
Jay and Claire are exquisitely played by Mark Rylance and Kerry Fox. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
A disconcerting experience. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
A raw, wounding, powerfully acted film, and you cannot look away from it. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldMarta Barber
You may be drawn to Intimacy's graphic scenes, but you'll emerge convinced there's more to life -- and the film -- than sex. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeJay Carr
Sometimes gets bogged down in its own wordiness. Read full review
70
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
If Intimacy does anything well, it portrays desperation, in many different forms. Read full review
70
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
Powerfully acted, intensely carnal drama. Read full review
70
VarietyDavid Rooney
A tortured reflection on the complex relationship between love, sex, desire and obsession, distinguished by courageously raw performances from leads Mark Rylance and Kerry Fox. Read full review
67
Seattle Post-IntelligencerPaula Nechak
Chereau's film is disjointed and abrupt and it rages when is should be deft. We're given too little too late and, despite the lessons that lie within the affair, the lines between enlightenment and nihilism blur. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Plays like a warmed-over "Last Tango in Paris," with more explicit sex but a lower level of originality and acting skill. Read full review
50
New Times (L.A.)David Ehrenstein
A lacerating study of sexual alienation. Read full review
50
The New YorkerDavid Denby
The movie holds one in its surly grip, but when it's over, few people, I think, are likely to be haunted by it. Futility may work as a mood in a short story, but in a full-scale movie it doesn't bear looking at for very long. (29 Oct 2001, p. 92)
50
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
Some people will want to call it pornography. In one respect, it's the opposite. Read full review
50
New York PostLou Lumenick
Wants to be a "Last Tango in Paris" for the new millennium, but its flaccid dramatization and hollow moralizing doesn't rise even to the level of last year's "An Affair of Love," let alone Bertolucci's masterpiece. Read full review
50
Film ThreatRon Wells
It's ironic that a film exploring the mysteries of how people succeed and fail to connect with each other then fails to really connect with its audience. Read full review
50
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
Authentically British or not, Intimacy is squarely in the indigenous kitchen-sink style -- a far cry from the absurdly chic, sentimental pseudo-worldliness of something like "An Affair of Love." Read full review
More From This Movie

69 Critic Reviews

7.5 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL