‘Intimate Relations’ Juxtaposes Lust, Restraint
“Intimate Relations” is the strange but true story of a romantic triangle involving a lodger, his landlady and her teenage daughter.
Set in a 1950s England village, this sordid saga is a campy marathon of button-down hypocrisy and uncorseted lust, all set to bouncy Rosemary Clooney songs.
Its juxtaposition of the hygienic and the smutty does not put the viewer in the mind of how repressed desire often gets expressed in unnatural and lethal ways. Rather, it suggests that writer-director Philip Goodhew wants a seal of approval both from Good Housekeeping and from filmmaker David Lynch.
What registers are the chilling performances by Julie Walters as landlady Marjorie and Rupert Graves as her troubled tenant, Harold. These are performances worthy of Shakespearean tragedy, too somber and creepy for comedy, however dark.
The unbelievable-but-true story told in “Intimate Relations” is as stunning as those recounted in “Heavenly Creatures” or “The Young Poisoner’s Handbook.” It’s kind of a reverse “Lolita,” with the lodger hopelessly in lust with the matron and not the nymphet.
Marjorie is a mother who prides herself on her propriety, but who cannot keep her hands off the lodger. Harold is a motherless young man who finds Marjorie’s maternalism and sexuality an irresistible combination. And when daughter Joyce, a curious and morbid 13-year-old, doesn’t enjoy the same intimate relations with Harold as Mummy, she blackmails both of them.
xxxx “Intimate Relations” Location: Lincoln Heights cinemas Credits: Written and directed by Philip Goodhew, starring Julie Waters, Rupert Graves, Matthew Walker and Laura Sadler Running time: 1:39 Rating: R