Patrice Chéreau's 2001 film Intimacy is loosely based on stories by Hanif Kureishi, and at the time of its release drew a lot of attention for its explicit 'real' sex scenes. The couple at the heart of the film, played by Kerry Fox and Mark Rylance, meet once a week in a flat for anoymous sex, with no conversation and no personal details. The story unfolds as one of the characters tries to break these rules and find out more about the other. The film is not a joyous celebration of sexual liberation - it is tortured and at time claustrophobic.
The scene for all this zipless f*cking is New Cross, to be precise Alpha Road, which is why in Sight and Sound (the British Film Institute journal) it was once described as Last Tango in Lewisham (July 2001). The director stated: 'I wanted Gary Oldman for the film, but he wouldn't do the sex scenes. But he did help me a lot - he showed me the Old Kent Road, Peckham and so on, and then I went off and discovered New Cross for myself'.
Here's the trailer - watch out for the New Cross Road!:
The soundtrack includes Tindersticks, The Clash, Iggy Pop and a piece of music composed for the film by Eric Neveux called Last Wednesday in New Cross.
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