Desire

A film by Gareth Jones

"Desire is the risk we take to discover what's real..."

In cinemas 4th March 2011. DVD release Spring 2012. Now available to stream.

"...played with estimable intensity...an intriguing insight into the politics of marriage, the power of language and the dangerous unpredictability of ardour..."
Online | 17.09.09

"I loved the unselfconscious sensuality of the film, its vivid fleshiness in lovely contrast to the consciousness of the script and voices... a beautiful, intricate and absorbing film."
Prof. Emma Wilson, University of Cambridge | 5.11.11

"...a nicely staged blend of artfully shot sexuality and repressed drama..."
04.03.11 | Read »

"...accomplished cast and pin-sharp visuals..."
The Guardian| 04.03.11 Read press »

"The characters entered straight into my waking dream... a passionate, intriguing and perfect movie..."
Cambridge Film Festival-goer | 19.09.09

"This film is a gem... the screenplay has a maturity that translates onscreen into a lightness of touch and a physical beauty to delight the eye." / "Ce film est précieux...maturité d'un scénario qui s'avère d'une légèreté et d'une beauté plastiques qui ravissent la rétine."
Dr Jacques Stérin, Amiens | 17.11.09

Short trailer

Full length trailer

Story

Writer Ralph sits at the top of his London house, crippled by agoraphobia, emasculated by the success of his soap-star wife Phoebe, unable to complete the screenplay that will rescue his reputation and his family.

With a deadline looming, he invites Parisian student Néné to look after the children, little guessing where it will lead. Néné takes her place in the home, but is she carer, muse, lover or thief?

As Ralph succumbs to his desire, Néné embarks on a passionate relationship with both husband and wife which leads all three into areas of emotional and creative trangression. Who is using whom? Who is writing the film called Desire? And where will it end?

Background

DESIRE marks a new departure for award-winning screenwriter/director Gareth Jones (Brass, Shalom Salaam, Bonhoeffer Agent of Grace etc). Based on his original, highly personal screenplay it's a steamy psychodrama that plays out entirely behind the closed doors of a London family home.

Exploring the heady connection between sex and creativity, this passionate love story between screenplay writer Ralph (Oscar Pearce), beautiful but secretive Parisian au pair Néné (Tella Kpomahou), glamorous soap-star wife Phoebe (Daisy Smith)and her sexy actor boyfriend Darren (Adam Slynn) simmers dangerously beneath their everyday family existence until desire tips the balance and the highly unstable, volatile mix erupts.

Jones chose to work with a tightly-knit group of theatre-trained actors who could give the film the kind of intensity he needed through concentrated rehearsal and a highly pressured shoot. He says:

"I believe in the importance of precision, creative control and close observation of the human heart that relies on a certain calm amidst the storm of emotions.

"The film attempts to rescue sexuality from the ghetto into which pornography has banished it and look at our erotic impulses within the context of an apparently stable marriage, exploring the theme that desire can grow in the space between peoples of very different origins, status, language and experience.

"DESIRE joins a long tradition of films about filmmaking, here represented by the long-suffering screenwriter: Ralph is a particularly obsessive, wily, seductive member of the species."