Ira Sachs’ new film Passages is a tender, sexy, and stressful new drama starring three of the most beautiful people acting on screen today. Tomas (Franz Rogowski) is a film director whose marriage with Martin (Ben Whishaw) falls apart after Tomas’s affair with a young woman, Agathe (Adele Exarchopoulos). After Tomas meets Agathe at a wrap party for his most recent film, they instantly connect and sleep with each other. The next morning, Tomas confesses the affair to Martin, who puts an end to their marriage. However, as the conditions of Tomas and Agathe’s own relationship begin to intensify, and Martin begins seeing another man, Tomas is stuck between his two loves as he spirals and makes choices that cause him to lose both of them.
Superficially, Passages is beautiful. Josée Deshaies’ cinematography as well as the lighting and colour work is crisp and satisfying to look at. I love a movie with bold and vibrantly coloured clothes and backgrounds, while the lighting still maintains a balanced skin tone. This combination of neutral lighting and vibrant colour (as opposed to colour toned lighting) seems to be a trend in films released recently in the 2020s, it is especially common in many films picked up by Mubi (examples I can think of include Close (2022), Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019), and even Barbie (2023)), and I’m excited to see how indie and European film industries run with it. In addition to these stylish lighting choices, the interiors in the film are so cute, and the costuming by Khadija Zeggaï is perfect. She dresses Rogowski in the cattiest of mesh crop tops, Whishaw in the cosiest of sweaters, and Exarchopoulos in the most vibrant of jewel toned dresses, blouses and coats.
Of course the acting of the three stars is phenomenal as well. Rogowski trained in clown school before he became an actor, and it shows in the way he acts with his body more so than his words. I will say that it was slightly disconcerting to hear Rogowski speaking English, as most films I have seen with him starring have been in his native German, but he did manage to convey Tomas’s chaotic personality very well. Additionally, Rogowski’s chemistry with Whishaw is undeniable as they argue with one another, and the semi-final scene proves in the most heartbreaking of ways that “there’s nothing sadder on film than Ben Whishaw crying” (Brian Tallerico on Letterboxd, Jan 23, 2023). However one criticism I have is that Exarchopoulos isn’t given quite as much screen time or depth of character as she deserves. Despite a few moments at Agathe’s job as an elementary school teacher and with her family, we don’t get to know her personality as well as Tomas and Martin, absent in many dramatically charged scenes. I do appreciate that she wasn’t portrayed as a bad person or a homewrecker; Agathe is just a girl in love with a narcissist who also loves her. Her choices at the end of the film are mature and decisive in a way that Tomas is not. As a character Agathe is clearly well-adjusted, and it frustrated me that we didn’t get to see more of her life.
The narcissism in Tomas’s choices and confessions are infuriating. He intrudes on the lives of both Martin and Agathe, trying to redeem himself when he has already fucked up too much. It’s almost pathetic to watch as he fails to manipulate them both to take him back. Tomas is clearly the type of person who always does what he wants, and expects people to bend to his will and his choices. Not being able to get what he wants in the end totally breaks him. The opening scene of Tomas blowing up at an actor on his film set for not perfectly adhering to Tomas’s instruction foreshadows the overarching character conflict of toxic insensitivity to both his husband and lover’s emotions. Yet in the third act it is satisfying yet heartbreaking to watch Tomas’ power disintegrate.
The film’s minor rating scandal must also be addressed. Passages was originally given an NC-17 rating by the United States, but it was revoked upon release and now remains unrated (Amy Nicholson, The New York Times, Aug 4 2023). The IFCO was less dramatic about the rating, giving it a mere 16 (Donald Clarke, The Irish Times Aug 31 2023). My thoughts on the rating are this: Passages may be graphic, but it is by no means extreme. With a simple total of three sex scenes, only one of them depicts actual nudity, and no genitalia is visible. In fact, the sex scene between Tomas and Martin that gave the film its NC-17 rating is one of the most powerful moments of the film. It is a long shot with Martin’s naked back in the middle of the frame, Tomas’s feet around Martin’s neck. There is less movement and light than in the sex scenes between Tomas and Agathe, and it gives their sex a quality of bleakness, while also portraying the passion and ecstasy of two people who have had sex with each other a million times already. The camera’s gaze is so incredibly direct that it almost feels intrusive and pornographic, but you have to admit that the cinematography and the editing of hard cuts in and out of the scene make it incredibly powerful.
While the film may be controversial for its explicit depictions of both gay and straight sex, I found the scenes to be quite important to the plot as well as the themes. Many similar relationship dramas use the cutaway method to indicate sexual acts, leaving the viewer to imagine what happened between two characters, while the subtextual sex is still important to the conflict. However, Passages is strong because it boldly does not cut away. It shows you what literally happened to cause all these conflicts, tying the viewer even deeper into the drama. The film is quite blatantly about sex: hot sex, toxic sex, gay sex, and the fluidity and rigidity of human sexuality. While I don’t think one should watch Passages with one’s parents (as I unfortunately did), I definitely recommend checking this one out.
WORDS: Coco Goran
