It's patrice Chereau's new film, his first in english. It's based on a novella (called Intimacy) and a short story (called "Night Light") by Hanif Kureshi. But it's as far from My Beautiful Laundrette or Sammy and Rosie Get Laid as you could imagine.
It centers on a Last Tango style non-relationship between a man and a woman (Mark Rylance and Kerry Fox) who gradually come to be ever-so-vaguely interested in one another. There's a lot of semi-graphic sexual grappling in it but it's not an erotic film at all.
In fact it deals with sex as a tool people use to cut themselves off from one another. The atmosphere is decidedly chilly -- not at all like Chereau's Those Who Love Me Can Take the Trainwhich was warm and wistful.
Marrianne Faithful does a stunning supporting turn in this one, as dos the ever-reliable Timothy Spall.
In short -- See it With Someone You're Planning to Break-Up With.
