Intimate Relations

I think it was on the Adelphi Film site that I managed to see stills of this film from the opening credits to The End. The film was well cast and the actors looked right in their roles. Jean Cocteau himself praised the film. I have an article from Picturegoer Magazine June 20 1953 written by Margaret Hinxman which verifies this. Quote: "M. Cocteau was pleased. 'This is a new and remarkable interpretation,' he said. 'I have anticipated it as a remake. But this is new.'" The rest of the article goes on to condemn the film. The same Picturegoer Magazine previously condemned 'Cosh Boy' in its May 2 1953 edition written by Jympson Harman. Quote: "I think it would be a good thing if it were banned everywhere." In 2019, the British Film Institute released it on Blu-Ray. It now has a 12 Certificate instead of its original 'X' which excluded anyone under 16. I bring these two articles together as they reflect adverse popular opinion concerning two 'controversial' films in 1953.

The French film based on the same script 'Les Parents Terribles' and starring Jean Marais was given an 'A' certificate. I have seen it. It is based on a great play and the English via Adelphi made this version 'Intimate Relations'. The title was sensationalist, but then so was 'Cosh Boy'. That 'Intimate Relations' caused such controversy in 1953 seems unbelievable now but in 1953 British audiences were not used to this kind of adult film except in foreign languages with subtitles, usually hard to read, and for those who did not understand the foreign language, the 'Shock' of those films was muted.

This film deserves a release as Jean Cocteau wrote nothing that could shock an audience in 2020. My special plea is that the British Film Institute do their best to let people see a lost film of artistic merit. Indeed, it may well have more merit than 'Cosh Boy' which did not have the kudos of being screened at the Cannes Film Festival, or of being praised by such a great film maker and artist as Jean Cocteau.

This British version of Cocteau did good business on the strength of it's 'X' certificate and saucy title.

Naturally critically it was a sitting target and reviled as a calamitous mistake (mainly by people who hadn't actually bothered to see it), but Cocteau actually quite liked it and thought it a considerable improvement on the 1948 version.

The use of friction between two middle-aged to provide the story's driving force is a welcome novelty. The atrocious sound recording simply heightens the theatricality of the piece (a cupboard that loudly creaks opens at inopportune moments is a nice touch); while the framed photographs of the son at different ages liberally scattered about the room provide an ironic commentary on the present events.

The whimsical tone is established at the outset by a tongue-in-disclaimer that the events depicted could only happen abroad. The setting is explicitly identified as Paris, but all but one of the cast speak impeccable English and apart from an obviously painted Sacre Couer seen through the young hero's window and a kitsch accordion score by Rene Cloeric that's all folks.

That one character is a diabetic shooting up on insulin is probably a discreet reference to Cocteau's own penchant for drugs.