The popularity of the recently released movie ‘Hope Springs’ which star Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones arguably stemmed from the fact many couples could relate to the issues the protagonists faced on screen.

The fraught pair are a devoted couple that nonetheless face excruciating intimacy issues after raising children alongside decades of marriage.

What we see are an older couple in love, but whose marriage has progressed to the separate beds stage.

Dan Anderson – whose novel ‘Sex Tips for Straight Women from a Gay Man’ featured in the film – suggests this intimacy issue is a commonplace problem for couples facing the stresses of everyday life.