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INTIMATE RELATIONS
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 1997 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): ** 1/2
Okay, I admit it. I'm a sucker for true stories. Everyone has their weakness, and reality-based movies are mine. In the press kit for INTIMATE RELATIONS, first-time writer and director Philip Goodhew claims that ninety-nine percent of the facts are accurate. He even took the film's title from the coy term the newspapers of the time used instead of the forbidden word, "sex."
Rupert Graves plays the easily manipulated, 33-year-old Harold Guppy. Harold comes to stay for a spell in an English country town. Not having much money, he rents a small room from the Beasleys. Stanley Beasley (Matthew Walker) is an alcoholic with a wooden leg, thanks to the war. His wife Marjorie, an unattractive grandmother in her late fifties, is played by Julie Walters, the Academy Award nominee for EDUCATING RITA.
Marjorie interviews Harold before allowing him to stay with them. "Don't worry about me," he assures her. "I was just a bit of a rapscallion when I was 10." Her husband warns him that they have a young girl living in the house, so he expects him to be on his best behavior. The warning, however, should have gone to his wife.
Marjorie, who loathes her husband and denies him any sex with her due to her delicate condition, has anything but honorable intentions toward her new lodger. Set in the ticky-tacky, pastel 1950s, the time's hypocritical attitudes about sex are sometimes surprising but never more so that Marjorie's lechery.
Their 13-year-old daughter Joyce is played with a mixture of innocence and sexual longing by film newcomer Laura Sadler. At first she is the typical young teen. She and her friend discuss the definition of biology, and Joyce says it is "the study of living orgasms." This sends both of them into uncontrollable fits of giggles. This is also one of the few laughs in what is a serious film about a highly dysfunctional family that gets involved in a high profile, criminal case. The sometimes kitsch sets leads one at first to think that the show will become a black comedy, which it doesn't.
Joyce's 14th birthday party -- full of hideous blue cake and silly cucumbers shaped like tiny alligators -- is when the troubles start. An innocent spin-the-bottle game has Marjorie attacking Harold into the hall. That night, Marjorie sneaks in bed with Harold, who is initially repulsed and refuses to cooperate. Joyce, who normally sleeps with her mom -- her drunken father has own room, comes into bed with her mom even though she is in bed with Harold. When Joyce feigns falling asleep, Marjorie and Harold start what will become a long series of liaisons. Like alcoholics trying to quit, the show has many scenes in which Marjorie assures Harold that this will be the last time if he will just make love to her now.
The complication in the story is that the two carry on their affair under Joyce's eyes. Morality has no practical meaning for any of them. Julie Walters gives a convincing portrayal of a woman who fancies herself a young seductress as well as an upstanding member of the community but is neither. When a girl at the laundry where she works gets the sack for becoming pregnant, Marjorie lectures her sternly. "A lady's reputation is all she has," she admonishes her, sounding completely sincere.
Like mother like daughter, Joyce tries, unsuccessfully, to blackmail Harold into having sex with her. When Harold has had enough of this manipulation by both of them, he joins the army and signs up for a 12 year hitch. "I like being told what to do," he explains. "I'm used to it."
And this is just a part of their crazy lives. Eventually, after more twists and turns, the film comes to its somewhat predictable conclusion. The ending is the least satisfying aspect of the movie, even though it is true. It is the character study of these people up until the ending that makes the picture. Human beings can do some pretty stupid things and let themselves get stuck in hopeless situations.
INTIMATE RELATIONS runs 1:45. It is rated R for sex, profanity, and violence and would be fine for mature teenagers. I give the picture a mild thumbs up and ** 1/2.
**** = A must see film. *** = Excellent show. Look for it. ** = Average movie. Kind of enjoyable. * = Poor show. Don't waste your money. 0 = Totally and painfully unbearable picture.
REVIEW WRITTEN ON: September 18, 1997
Opinions expressed are mine and not meant to reflect my employer's.
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