Finally, a summer film for adults

Talky, atmospheric, sensuous and somewhat willfully perverse -- if “Intimate Strangers” were not actually a French film it would undoubtedly be compared to one.

The latest theatrical feature to reach the U.S. from veteran director Patrice Leconte (known on these shores for such films as “The Man on the Train,” “The Girl on the Bridge” and “The Hairdresser’s Husband”) finds him re-teaming with actress Sandrine Bonnaire, star of his 1989 breakthrough film, “Monsieur Hire.”

Since its premiere earlier this year at the Berlin Film Festival, “Intimate Strangers” has been steadfastly making the rounds, winning over crowds at festivals from Seattle to Nantucket to Los Angeles, where it opens Friday.

Bonnaire plays a woman who makes the simple mistake of taking a wrong turn out of an elevator and knocking on the incorrect office door.

As a consequence of the misplaced identification, instead of baring her soul to a therapist, she tells all her fears, dreams and desires to a tax attorney.

As portrayed by the pitch-perfect Fabrice Luchini, the man -- bored with the banalities of his own life -- surprises even himself as he plays along, listening to her problems and offering advice. Before he knows it, she’s made another appointment and their sessions together become a regular thing. Once her jealous husband enters the picture, their mutual deceptions become more and more entangled, and it becomes less clear exactly who is deceiving whom and to what end.

Working with a frequent collaborator, Oscar-nominated cinematographer Eduardo Serra (who also shot “Girl With a Pearl Earring”), Leconte manages to open up worlds with words, as the two character pry, volley, poke and provoke each other from within the confines of the taxman’s drab cave of an office.

A dry, witty thriller of genuine psychology, “Intimate Strangers” is probably hitting theaters at just the right time, as more sophisticated audiences may be yearning for something heartier than the usual summertime movie candy.