Wow, I am the first person to review this film in eight years, and I have a feeling it will be even longer than that before anyone cares to do so again.. Bloody depressing thought! I very recently rediscovered this purely by chance when I put in a search engine the only, very vague details that I remembered about it - "British black comedy, daughter Joyce", and voilà! A virtually unheard of dark gem was lifted from the mists of obscurity by the wonders of modern technology! And it really was a great find for me, it turned out to be just as sharp and strange as I had very dimly remembered it. Very well acted by the three main cast members around whom the drama revolves, effective if not a little dull and dreary 50's setting, I find something so fascinating about the films set in that whole era that are all about scratching under the painfully restrained starchy veneer of the time and revealing the hotbed of seething sexual frustration lurking just beneath... And it's based on a rather grim true story too - although that's the problem with the movies that are based on real events, you never know just what's true and what isn't. It has such a powerfully odd and edgy tone to it that I've never come across with any other film ever. It's like a self-aware spoof of sexual tension, and is pretty funny in a saucy 50's British kind of way that in this instance I can really appreciate, but what I most enjoy about it is that despite it's mostly mundane and deceptively simple quietude, it's also at the same time in a really sly and insidious way quite subtly dark and more than a little disturbing. Although much of this dire tale is somewhat lighthearted and tongue-in-cheek humour there's also a sense of urgency to it, the humour is balanced out with moments of well-placed intensity, and the comedy and suspense is brilliantly intertwined. It's very much a black comedy with a real edge and rawness to it, not just for the dialogue, but for the increasingly tense atmosphere and mood generated by the character interactions, which work to humorous and unnerving effect, as the three very different tones of the three very troubled and overly-close individuals just collide and cause all kinds of mayhem in their wake, and the situation slowly builds and escalates until things become downright deadly by the end. I just love the way you can feel that madness slowly simmer and grow! It's astonishingly well acted by all concerned, but I was most impressed by Rupert Graves who's low-key performance as the seemingly weak-willed and naive Harold was probably the best in the film in terms of complexity and character development. His character gets more and more confused and aggravated as the nightmare he's essentially trapped in works on his mind, and you get a strong sense of this man's desperation and need to escape. The dynamic between the three leads is amazing. At first it appears that they are merely getting sick of each other, but it soon turns into outright hostility, and it was only a matter of time before such uncontrollable anger would turn them against each other, their behaviour becoming ever-more erratic and aggressive until it all reaches a boiling point in the chaotic scene of violent murder at the end. There is something so chilling and distressing about the way that whole final scene is shot. It's so stark, and right in the middle of a bright beautiful day, and even though you somehow just know that the film is not going to end well, I doubt anyone watching for the first time would have been expecting such a horrendous scene. It seems to come out of nowhere and is so sudden, it's born out of spite and barely-contained loathing and is almost gruelling to watch. It left me stunned. ::: A startlingly well-realised and controversial film that doesn't pull any punches is how I would describe this one. It's presented in a no-nonsense fashion and avoids melodrama and remains plausible and realistic, while still maintaining the humour. I find it complex for its plot, themes and characters. It's planned and carried out with great care and at its heart is quite twisted and delves deep into the motivations of three people who get very carried away and keep blaming each other, instead of taking responsibility for their own actions until it's too damn late. A very well executed and unique film that deserves to be seen and gain a real audience.
Review of Intimate Relations
