Passages - Review Thread

Passages is the latest film from Ira Sachs, who I generally think of as being an extremely New York centric indie guy but with this new film he’s found himself in Europe and focuses on a love triangle of sorts between two married gay men (a Brit and a German) living in Paris and a French woman that one of them (apparently a bisexual) suddenly becomes infatuated with. On paper that concept (combined with the film’s much publicized battles with the MPA) implied that this would be a bit more sexy and salacious in a very European kind of way, but the final film is more Carnal Knowledge than The Dreamers. In essence the film shows a love triangle in which one character is having an affair, but isn’t really concealing it and neither of the other people in the triangle is particularly comfortable with the situation. In essence the Franz Rogowski character wants the three of them to be a throuple, but just because he wants that does not mean he’s going to get it, and the way he goes about the whole situation leads to a lot of frustration for all involved. I must say though I think I found all of this a little more interesting in practice and I think the big problem at the center is the Franz Rogowski character. Frankly, I don’t get what either of these people see in him. He isn’t unattractive but doesn’t seem to be getting buy on physical magnetism, nor does he seem to have overwhelming charisma, and he certainly doesn’t have a winning personality given everything he puts the two of them through. In short I didn’t really believe him as someone who could get away with so many shenanigans for so long and have people put up with his nonsense. Beyond that the movie struck me as a bit stock in its filmmaking, with good elements here and there but not really overwhelming me with its skill. There was enough here to keep my interest but it’s not an arthouse breakthrough.
*** out of Five