Desire review

Bereft of inspiration, an agoraphobic writer (Oscar Pearce) recruits an African au pair (Tella Kpomahou) in the hope it will help him finish a script he’s penning for his soap actress wife (Daisy Smith). Soon a ménage à trois develops, blurring the fact/fiction line.

Shot in the director’s home with his own children taking part, Desire could well have the same problem.

Yet while its low-key intimacy occasionally recalls Joanna Hogg’s middle-class fables, Gareth Jones’ low-budget chamber piece fails to rise above its pretentious dialogue and insufferable characters.