American director Ira Sachs is clearly going way beyond his territory in his latest film, Passages. Not only does he stray to the French setting with ease, but he also tells a very French story about a narcissistic German director miserably oscillating between the two ends of a love triangle, making everyone else miserable in the process.
The first time we meet Tomas (Franz Rogowski), he is trying to get through the last day of the shoot for his latest feature. He seems to be dissatisfied with the way the actor places his hands and is adamant about getting this right. It is only ironic that Tomas, who is so hell-bent on making his story on the screen feel perfect, doesn’t even have things figured out in his personal life.
Anyway, at the wrap-up party, he warms up to Agathe (Adèle Exarchopoulos), the luminous yet somehow distractingly dull high school teacher who just happens to have gotten done with a relationship. The two of them instantly have a fiery outburst, and in spite of Tomas being married to his husband Martin (Ben Whishaw), their desire for each other brings them closer, turning it into an affair.
Initially, Martin, who has had years of practice running with Tomas’ curveball of a nature, is not taken aback by his self-centered discovery that he is, in fact, bisexual, and his love for this new woman can be a possibility of discovering something new in himself. This new discovery of his, however, only leads up to a point of selfish bias. When Martin decides to pursue a lover of his own, Tomas somehow comes crumbling back, desiring what he thinks is his.
Adèle Exarchopoulos as Agathe & Ben Whishaw as Martin in Passages (2023).Since director Ira Sachs shoots the movie from Tomas’ confounding but innately nihilistic point of view, you are never too loathsome of his behavior. While you don’t necessarily like him, this approach provides us with a much-needed leeway into this strange person and his strange wishes in life. The wish to achieve two polar opposite things has blinded Tomas to such an extent that love is no more a feeling but an idea for him. An idea for a story that will perhaps make to one of his features? Probably! But more importantly, it offers us a window into the life of people who, in order to achieve more, allow the one’s around them to take the fall.
There’s an ache in this story, and Ira Sachs is able to bring that up through the consequence of believing in someone you shouldn’t. The American filmmaker has seamlessly transitioned into a setting that allows him to play into a story that is both sexy and incredibly grounded. A lot of the heavy lifting is done by Franz Rogowski, who feels like a man-child looking for a mommy who would help him from self-destructing. His tumultuous relationship with himself is far more interesting than the other two people in this story, making his presence on screen feel magnet. Whishaw and Exarchopoulos are equally good in their roles, allowing their British and French point of view somehow seep into their love affair for a German director.
Passages, in spite of the thin air that fills up a lot of its plot, comes down as an essential watch just to witness the rise and fall of toxic behavior and all the checkpoints it goes through.
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Passages (2023) Movie Links: IMDb
Passages (2023) Movie Cast: Franz Rogowski, Ben Whishaw, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Erwan Kepoa Fale
Where to watch Passages
