{image1}French director Patrice Leconte is no stranger to intimate films based on chance encounters. Witness his "The Man on the Train," with Johnny Halliday, and "The Girl on the Bridge," to name two.
His latest film, "Intimate Strangers," uses a similar jumping off point.
Anna (Sandrine Bonnaire) walks into an office and proceeds to pour out her problems to an analyst. The problem, however, is that William (Fabrice Luchini) isn't a therapist, but an accountant. Anna has walked into the wrong office.
William never manages to tell Anna the truth during the brief first meeting. He tries during the second one, without success. In the meantime, he is drawn deeper into her story.
Her husband suffered an injury, and no can not satisfy her and encourages her to have an affair, something with which she isn't comfortable. She loves him and him only.
{image2}Meanwhile, William works and lives alone in the office/apartment that was his father's before him and where he has spent his entire life. Even his receptionist, Mrs. Mulon (Helene Surgere), is a holdover from the days when his father ruled the office.
Recently, girlfriend, librarian Jeanne (Anne Brochet), left him, although they remain close friends and she even spends the night occasionally, despite having found a new boyfriend.
As the film unfolds, William finds as much solace in Anna as he provides for her, despite his lack of experience as a therapist (although he does walk down the hall for some not-so-free advice from Dr. Monnier, whom Anna was really on her way to see that first day). And nothing, apparently, stokes Jeanne's leftover feelings for William quite like seeing his interest in a new woman.
Will Anna consent to her husband's wishes and take a lover? Will that lover be William? How will Jeanne react? These are questions to which you can find the answers if you see Leconte's evenly-paced film.
Introspective and somber, Leconte paints a shadowy picture of a group of unsatisfied people, some who are searching for fulfillment and others who seem unsure of where even to look for it.
"Intimate Strangers" opens Friday, Sept. 3 at Landmark's Downer Theatre.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
