REVIEW: Passages (2023, dir. Ira Sachs)

Certificate: 18

Running Time: 92 mins

UK Distributor: MUBI

REVIEWED DURING SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL: LONDON

WHO’S IN PASSAGES?

Franz Rogowski, Ben Whishaw, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Erwan Kepoa Falé, Olivier Rabourdin, Caroline Chaniolleau

WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?

Ira Sachs (director, writer), Mauricio Zacharias (writer), Saïd Ben Saïd and Michel Merkt (producers), Josée Deshaies (cinematographer), Sophie Reine (editor)

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

A couple (Rogowski and Whishaw) finds their relationship tested when one of them falls for a woman (Exarchopoulos)…

WHAT ARE MY THOUGHTS ON PASSAGES?

Toxic relationships are often a strong source of drama in many a heterosexual romance, but rarely do you ever see on-screen a gay couple being depicted in such a questionable light. Whether it’s a desire to avoid seeming offensive or simply the lack of compelling narratives that actually dare to show that – gasp! – LGBTQ+ couples can be just as imbalanced as others, same-sex romances often tend to be about two people who seem perfect for each other fall in love.

That’s part of what makes Ira Sachs’ new film Passages such an interesting watch, because it is unilaterally unafraid to have main characters who happen to be gay also be some of the most morally incomprehensible and deeply problematic presences in a straightforward love story. However, it is in no way hateful or derogatory (otherwise it would have received one star right off the bat), and instead makes the situation and, most importantly, the characters feel all the more complex and rounded.

The central couple is Tomas (Franz Rogowski) and Martin (Ben Whishaw), a married couple residing in Paris. Tomas is a hot-headed German filmmaker whose fierce vision and desire for control often leads to verbal clashes on his set and with close associates, including his British husband Martin who often bears the brunt of Tomas’ out-of-control ego. During a wrap party, Tomas ends up sleeping with a woman named Agathe (Adèle Exarchopoulos) and begins to gravitate towards her as his new muse, and soon she becomes intertwined with both Tomas and Martin as they attempt to work past their differences in order to remain a couple, only to find that there might not be anything left to save in their relationship.

Sachs almost right away disarms the viewer by refusing to prolong the secret affair and mine it for all its drama, with Tomas almost too proudly declaring to his devastated husband about hooking up with a woman the morning after the deed. From there, Sachs concentrates his film on being this deep and at times unforgiving exploration of a relationship where one is clearly more dominant over the other, and often uses manipulative and borderline sociopathic tactics to stay in his partner’s life even when he’s been kicked out of their apartment for cheating, apparently not for the first time. By all accounts, Tomas is not a good person, let alone a good romantic partner, for he is wildly narcissistic and deeply unpleasant to most people around him, even his new lover Agathe who, like Martin before her, cannot entirely escape his control and enables his behaviour by tending to shrug it off and optimistically choosing to see the better person within.

The beauty of Passages, though, is that while it has a lead character who is extremely difficult to root for and is engaged in not one but two relationships with people whom he easily dominates and manipulates for his own means, it is a very human story. The viewer knows right away that this guy is bad news, because that’s how Sachs initially presents him through his gentle direction and writing (in a script co-written by Mauricio Zacharias), but Franz Rogowski’s electrifying lead performance refuses to make him an all-out villain, and more of a deeply complex study of a person whose rampant ego is destroying both his life and the lives of others, even if he’s too self-absorbed to notice. You certainly see the devastating emotional effect his presence has on both Ben Whishaw and Adèle Exarchopoulos (both of whom are also excellent), who have had it up to varying levels with Tomas but cannot fully shove him out of their lives because he is charming when he wants to be, and yet they too have their limits which ultimately push him to at the very least acknowledge the consequences of his actions.

You don’t come away from this romance in the best of moods, but the whole purpose of Passages is to show how any relationship is capable of being fuelled by toxicity (predominantly from a lone party, but also from the willingness of the other partner to let them continue behaving so horribly). In that sense, the film is extremely profound and smart, giving the audience a clear indication of who these characters are and how they may develop over the course of the story, while also not leaving them as one simple archetype throughout. It is also very intimate, with scenes of sizzling chemistry between the actors and extended sex scenes which, though perhaps a bit too long at times, gets across the passion that is still being felt between people who really shouldn’t stay together.

(On that note, I want to briefly bring something else up: just before publication of this review, Passages received the heavily restrictive NC-17 rating in America – and if it’s for the reason that I believe it to be, in particular the scenes mentioned right before this paragraph which, incidentally, are nowhere near as explicit as other recent movies to carry that rating, it’s an extremely telling bow to the whims of conservative audiences, which makes it highly disappointing that the film won’t be as widely seen or possibly even talked about as it will in other countries, including the UK)

With great performances and a deeply complex script, this is a fascinating study of toxic romance that offers no easy answers and tons of layers which make it all the more compelling.

SO, TO SUM UP…

Passages is a smart and complex study of a toxic relationship where ego is causing it to erode from all angles, which is gently told by director and co-writer Ira Sachs who, along with great performances from Franz Rogowski, Ben Whishaw and Adèle Exarchopoulos, doesn’t hold back on parts of the toxicity.