Funny how often cases of mistaken identities would lead to some surprises, be them pleasant, irritating, thrilling, or a little mixture of all of them. And that’s how Intimate Strangers tells its story, with a very much subdued eroticism that often raises hairs behind your neck, a little bit.

But what makes the film appealing is how it derives its playful theme. For sure, the story of how strangers get intimate to one another after planted coincidences, no puns intended to the title, has been told many times in numerous films, yet Patrice Leconte magically directs the film and gives the story a suspense feeling through the film’s original score as done by Pascal Esteve which reminds a lot to Bernard Herrmann’s collaborations with Alfred Hitchcock’s in the latter’s best works. The score is visually matched with Eduardo Serra’s unusual angle of how camera looks at the two leading characters revealing themselves as the film progresses that gives intimate feeling yet distancing us at the same time.

Thus, don’t force yourself to laugh to this widely-acclaimed film put as comedy by some critics. Instead, let yourself feel rooting for these characters to seduce you with their seductive wits.

Believe it or not, that’s a fun on its own.