Passages (2023)
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Passages Movie Review
Passages is a 2023 romantic drama film directed by Ira Sachs and starring Franz Rogowski, Ben Whishaw and Adele Exarchopoulos. It’s a flawed, but undeniably well made drama.
A gay couple’s marriage is thrown into crisis when one of them impulsively begins a passionate affair with a young woman. This is one of those movies that are all about a highly unlikable protagonist that is a genuinely horrible human being. Whenever you center your story around such a jerk, you are bound to put off some viewers, and surely the film was quite annoying at times, but I did not find the director making excuses for him at all, so I ultimately found his depiction strong and grounded in reality.
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Franz Rogowski was very memorable in the Austrian drama ‘Great Freedom’ and here he was so well cast as the terribly egotistical and selfish Tomas. He was so believable and effective that he elevated what otherwise could have been a one-note role significantly. There are people in this world like him, so those people who are offended by this depiction should realize that.
I also quite respected how bisexuality was never tackled in an overly explanatory manner in this film that was clearly directed by a gay man who knows what he’s doing and is just making a story about a man who just happens to be bisexual, but is above all else a jerk to both men and women. The film depicts that sometimes these types of people don’t think, but impulsively end up in situations that hurt others, but this should never excuse their horrible actions.
Ben Whishaw plays Martin, his husband. He was also very well cast and it was necessary to have both Agathe and Martin be somewhat passive and overly tolerant as otherwise their actions would seem implausible. They still bordered on unrealistic, but at least I could buy them forgiving him so much as they seemed like genuinely nice people.
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Speaking of Agathe, Adele Exarchopoulos was terrific in the role and very sympathetic. Passages carefully develops each of the two relationships, so that they felt very much real. The sex scenes are quite realistic, though overly extended and graphic. Ira Sachs directed the film well, but it’s far from his best efforts. The cinematography is strong, but the editing and pacing left a lot to be desired and the dialogue is only solid and not as brilliant as this type of character-driven drama would demand.
Ira Sachs’ Passages is the type of film that might be off-putting to most people as it centers on a deeply unlikable central character who is just a horrible human being through and through. But there are people like him in this world and I respected the movie for depicting him and his actions so honestly. It’s not among the director’s best efforts as it lacked strong dialogue and pacing, but the acting performances are uniformly excellent and the interpersonal drama between all three characters was well explored.
My Rating – 4
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