Intimate Strangers
Paramount Classics | Release Date: July 30, 2004 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
71
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 28 Critic Reviews
Positive:
22
Mixed:
6
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
At age 37, she's (Bonnaire) developed into a consummate film actress and a unique star whose enigmatic persona has never had a more exhilarating showcase. Read full review
90
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
Mr. Luchini gives one of the best performances of the year, in one of the best movies of the year.
90
Los Angeles TimesKevin Crust
Patrice Leconte has long ago mastered a Gallic specialty: the knack of making impeccably polished, graceful films with an unpretentious ease while allowing them to emerge seeming fresh and spontaneous. Leconte's latest film to reach the U.S. reveals him to be at his slyest best. Read full review
90
TimeRichard Schickel
It proposes that you can make an extraordinarily satisfying comedy without writing a joke. Subtly played and elegantly directed, this is an Adults Only movie in the best sense of the term. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleKimberley Jones
This modest French-language film follows the time-honored cinematic tradition of plot as spearheaded by a simple twist of fate. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
Such a triumph of simplicity, subtlety and tact--and of the eroticism in words, looks and glances--that the actors ravish us with sheer talent and intelligence. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
We find we cannot take anything for face value in this story, that the motives of this woman and her husband are so deeply masked that even at the end of the film we are still uncertain about exactly what to believe, and why. Read full review
80
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
The film insightfully probes into the things that are said and the intense feelings that are merely implied, buzzing at a low level just beneath the surface. Read full review
80
The New York TimesStephen Holden
Establishes its mood of playful erotic suspense in the first 10 minutes and sustains its cat-and-mouse game between therapist and patient through variations that are by turns amusing, titillating and mildly scary. Read full review
80
Washington PostDesson Thomson
This is the kind of sophisticated and pleasurable movie you dream of seeing from France. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Leconte justifies his vaunted reputation by lending freshness and feeling to what could have been a gimmicky tragicomedy. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
A strange almost-thriller. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldMarta Barber
A film more psychological than passionate, more mental than emotional. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
Light and droll, but with an undercurrent of moody suspense. Read full review
70
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
Leconte, as always, means to explore the gray areas between sexual espionage and love, and there remains something powerful about the fantasy of being listened to, without judgment. Read full review
70
Dallas ObserverLuke Y. Thompson
Props to translator Nigel Palmer for keeping the subtitles witty instead of blindly literal. Read full review
70
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
It's at once too restrained and too perversely funny to have emanated from the play-it-big-but-play-it-safe sensibilities of Hollywood, U.S.A. Read full review
70
VarietyLisa Nesselson
Consistently entertaining exploration of how much -- or how little -- is required to overcome obstacles to self-actualization should be welcome wherever auds crave a good story told with nuance and flair. Read full review
67
Portland OregonianM. E. Russell
The result is a handsome, intelligent film that feels as restrained as its protagonist -- a comic premise without many laughs, a thriller without many thrills. Read full review
63
New York PostLou Lumenick
No "Girl on the Bridge," but this comic thriller does generate a fair amount of erotic tension and sly commentary on psychoanalysis. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy Burr
There's a thin line between the subtle and the dramatically inert, and Intimate Strangers pitches a tent on it. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Leah McLaren
If you like movies in which fashionably dressed people spend a lot of time smoking and talking cryptically about sex in dark, overfurnished Paris apartments, you should put down your café au lait and run out to see this film right now. If not, you probably just don't like French movies. Read full review
60
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
This held me, but I was grateful when it released me. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
All that menace is simply decorative, and it's disappointing that Laconte never properly addresses the intriguing sexual undertones (like voyeurism, exhibitionism and sexual obsession) he uses to darken the film's palette. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
This has all the ingredients for a top-notch thriller except one - a thrill. Read full review
50
SalonCharles Taylor
To borrow a phrase from Pauline Kael, Intimate Strangers suggests bits of Alfred Hitchcock and bits of Woody Allen. But the wrong bits. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
The film does get claustrophobic. It never quite achieves the balance between a two-character study and a larger world, as did "The Man on the Train." The film also could do with a bit more humor, most of which is supplied by the sagacious shrink. Read full review
50
Village VoiceDavid Ng
A bland chamber drama for those who like their French cinema tame, talky, and just a little titillating. Read full review
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