It's very difficult to classify the genre of this movie. At times, it seems like a comedy, at others a dram and at other, perhaps, a romance. Regardless, it's a strange but enjoyable film.

The film begins with Anna (Sandrine Bonnaire) going to the wrong office. She is looking for the psychiatrist but accidentally walks into a tax accountants office. She begins pouring herself out to this unsuspecting man, William (Fabrice Luchini) and he's just too shocked to say anything. On top of that, he thinks she might just be a client who needs to get some stuff off her chest. However, before he can set her straight she abruptly ends the session and leaves--vowing to return next week.

When the follow week comes, Anna continues talking about her marital problems but, like the previous week, she suddenly changes her mind and leaves. Again, William should have told her he was not a therapist, but she really didn't give him a lot of opportunity.

The following week she does not show up. And, instead, William goes to talk to the psychiatrist down the hall. He wants to contact the woman to explain the mistake but doesn't know her name--and the psychiatrist isn't about to break confidentiality to tell him. Where does all this go from here? Well, suffice to say, she does return and both Anna and William come to look forward to these sessions.

I think this film works for several reasons. It's unique and charming. Plus the two leads do a very nice job. I particularly enjoy seeing Luchini in films and this the the third one I've seen recently--and I've seen a few others before this and particularly enjoyed him. Well worth your time but the dialog is occasionally rather adult, so it's not a film for your kids or mother-in-law.

This is basically a two character movie. It feels a bit theatrical in that it takes place in one set, with only a few scenes outside of the office where the two main characters meet.

Spoilers herein.

Patrice Leconte has created a film that strikes us as a mystery. The screen play by Jerome Tonerre is witty, sophisticated and light. It's easy to see how the writer and the director conspired to bring these two different persons to meet and share their intimate confidences with us, who are hypnotized by the proceedings.

Anna, has an attention disorder and gets easily confused with the directions the building porter gives her as to where to go. Instead she enters the office of William, who is not the person she is supposed to meet, at all.

William is a man who is bored with his lot in life. When Anna comes into his office, he awakes from his loneliness. We can't even imagine what he and his former wife, Jeanne, had in common. He is a loner who feels right at home listening to his old records (he still hasn't discovered CDs). At one point we see a scene in which William is listening to a popular dance song and he breaks into his own interpretation of it in front of a mirror; he shows that deep down inside of him, there's a man that is alive.

At one point in the film William goes to see his neighbor, the real analyst, that Anna has confused him with, trying to make sense on what is going on. Is he being analyzed by Dr. Monnier? Mr. Leconte is constantly sending us in different directions; he wants us to look at different aspects of the situation and perhaps wants to confuse us along the way.

Anna talks to William about the things in her mind. She lies when she tells him about the 'accident' she had caused to her husband, when in reality nothing like that ever happened. Marc turns out to be a young man who senses he is losing Anna to William. He stages the reunion with Anna in the hotel across the street from William to show him he is really alive and can perform well in bed!

Sandrine Bonnaire as Anna, has never been used as effectively as she is in this movie. She is an actress that is difficult to place, but once she takes on a role, she is that person. Fabrice Luchini has worked with M. Leconte before. He has a face that blends in with all his characters. As William, he achieves perfection in this film.

Anna (Sandrine Bonnaire) has an appointment with her analyst, doctor Monnier (Michel Duchaussoy) to tell him her sentimental problems. But because of a little talky concierge and dimly lit, somewhat eerie corridors, she lands in William Faber's office (Fabrice Lucchini) who is a financial adviser. Expect the unexpected at least for a short time. Rather than telling her that he's not the right man to talk to, he listens to her very carefully and sets up a second appointment with her. The following week, he reveals her the truth but agrees to see her as many times as she wants to. Anna accepts his offer and these two idiosyncratic characters strike up an ambiguous relationship which will partly unveil their respective personalities, at least for William.

"Confidences Trop Intimes" is the successor of a peak in Patrice Leconte's eclectic filmography, "l'Homme Du Train" (2002) and if it doesn't exactly match the greatness of this film, it nonetheless remains a true winner which encompasses everything that makes Patrice Leconte a worthwhile filmmaker. First with this original starting point: a woman who was badly directed in a building winds up in an office belonging to a character who is a total stranger to her. But as doctor Monnier says: "there isn't a big difference between a shrink and a financial adviser: they have to define and solve their customers' problems. The difference is that to a financial adviser's his problems are bare while to an analyst's they're hidden".

Ambiguity is one of the key words to describe the relationships between William and Anna. Is Anna really in bad terms with her eccentric husband (stout Gilbert Melki)? Doesn't she try to manipulate her partner? Isn't she a little crazy? They're exciting questions that call upon the viewer's imagination. As for William, one realizes that the sort of therapy that links the two characters is mainly destined to him. He's probably THE main character of the whole film. At first, he seems strong but bit by bit he proves that he's a fragile character who yearns to change his life. His unexpected meeting with Anna gives him this opportunity and makes him elated for a while (see the delightful sequence when he dances to "in the Midnight Hour" by Wilson Pickett). But then his real personality appears: he's a rather vulnerable man who has trouble with women and perhaps that's why his wedding with his former wife (Anne Brochet) went unravel. Besides she tells him that he didn't make the first move to meet her.

Leconte is well served by his duo of actors and it's a real surprise to discover and appreciate Fabrice Lucchini in an introverted man whereas he is usually typecast in extrovert roles. Sandrine Bonnaire makes an ideal partner. One should also hail the filmmaker for having discerningly chosen the scenery of this idiosyncratic in camera. Dimly lit corridors and rooms are deftly incorporated to the plot and give a sultry sensation to the ambiguous relationship between William and Anne, a strong point that was tapped fifteen years ago in "Monsieur Hire" (1989) when Michel Blanc was alone in his cramped flat. Sandrine Bonnaire was then her partner. So, when the camera goes out into the open air, the interest depletes a little in spite of good moments. While I'm writing about this shortcoming, I could also regret a misunderstanding too quickly solved (the second time when William and Anna meet again, he tells her that he's not the right person) and mention a too much cozy end.

But overall, when you have a strongly built story which has a lot of space for surprises and the development of its characters and a lot of food for thought, you can skip without problems conspicuous faults and leave the projection with a big smile on your face. Once again Leconte filled me with joy. Recommended to his aficionados.

NB: the film was turned into a play three years later.