ABSTRACT
In this concluding chapter the author brings together the many threads of intimacy explored in the book. Using a cinematic backdrop of two recent films, The Shape of Water and The Phantom Thread, the themes of intimacy and alienation are highlighted as they inevitably become woven into the fabric of relatedness. Developmental, cultural and clinical perspectives are reviewed. Two contrasting synonyms of intimacy, secrecy and sociability, are seen as capturing the essential dilemma that faces all people who can neither be completely alone, nor find it easy to relate.
