For acclaimed French director Chéreau, this is his first film in English, and it’s caused quite a stir. Based on the short story Night Light and the eponymous novel by Hanif Kureishi, INTIMACY traces the lifeline of a relationship that starts as a purely sexual exchange but changes into something else – but what? Jay (Rylance) and Claire (Fox) meet regularly each week to have uncomplicated, wordless sex. They have a tacit agreement, until she skips one of their sessions. Suddenly, Jay is curious about this woman – and his feelings towards her. So he decides to seek her out…The winner of the top prize at the 2001 Berlin Film Festival, INTIMACY has caused controversy with its unusually graphic sexual scenes, testing the limits at the BBFC and revealing in that institution a new, more liberal official attitude towards representation of sex on screen. But the film has caused equal consternation for its unflinching depiction of the minefield of relationships.