FACING 'INTIMACY,' WITH ITS PAINFUL SECRETS.

Byline: Bob Strauss Film Critic

Perhaps something got lost in the subtitles when such graphically sexual French films as ``Romance'' and ``Baise Moi'' recently reached these shores.

More likely, those withering exercises in porn and pain did not have the advantage of material written by Hanif Kureishi, the perceptive British screenwriter of ``My Beautiful Laundrette'' and ``My Son the Fanatic,'' among others. ``Intimacy,'' though directed by Frenchman Patrice Chereau (``Queen Margot,'' ``Those Who Love Me Can Take the Train'') and adapted by him and Anne-Louise Trividic, is based on some very personal stories Kureishi has written.

And, perhaps even more advantageous, the film is in English. That fact alone, of course, is no guarantee of quality (statistically, a greater percentage of French films do this kind of thing a whole lot better). But it does mean that an ensemble of outstanding British actors could bring desperately vivid, emotionally intelligent life to a subgenre that's been marked by awkward couplings of hard-core and theoretical hoo-hah.

Not that carnality isn't a big factor in ``Intimacy''; it's just that every other aspect of the title concept is given its fully exposed due.

In a grimy, underfurnished, South London flat, runaway husband Jay (Mark Rylance) meets Claire (Kerry Fox) every Wednesday afternoon for anonymous, animal sex. Without much else to look forward to in life, he starts to secretly follow Claire when she leaves. Jay eventually discovers that she's a mediocre actress appearing in a pub basement production of ``The Glass Menagerie'' - and that her biggest fan is a round, friendly cab driver, Andy (Timothy Spall), whom Claire is married to. Mistaking the intense Jay for another amateur theater enthusiast, Andy pals up with his romantic rival. When Claire figures out what's going on, she doesn't like it ... but doesn't put an end to the affair, either, which just drives Jay to appalling, if thoroughly sympathetic, acts of emotional sabotage.

This plot doesn't sound all that original, and it isn't. But it's the severity with which the three principles express their characters' feelings that makes ``Intimacy'' unique and unforgettable.

This is done through uncomfortable silences and lacerating soliloquies, as the need to touch and the inability to do so in any satisfying way drives all of them to harm that which they wish they could, but can't figure out how to, love. Rylance and Fox's accompanying copulations appear to be as passionate and awkward as the real thing usually is, and there is a bit of oral sex that, quite evidently, took no advantage of special effects.

That's a brave thing for a serious actress to do, no question. But to go to the real, naked places that the actors relentlessly explore here required courage just as rare and undaunted.

``INTIMACY''

(Not rated: graphic sex, nudity, language, substance abuse)

The stars: Mark Rylance, Kerry Fox, Timothy Spall, Alastair Galbraith, Philippe Calvario, Marianne Faithful.

Behind the scenes: Directed by Patrice Chereau. Written by Chereau and Anne-Louise Trividic, based on Hanif Kureishi's stories ``Intimacy'' and ``Night Life.'' Produced by Jacques Hinstin and Patrick Cassavetti. Released by Empire Pictures.

Running time: One hour, 59 minutes.

Playing: Town Center 5, Encino; Playhouse 7, Pasadena; Cecchi Gori Fine Arts, Beverly Hills.

Our rating: Three and one half stars