At the wrap party of Tomas’ (Franz Rogowski) latest film, his partner, Martin (Ben Whishaw), elects to leave early.  Alone at the bar, Tomas begins flirting with Agathe (Adèle Exarchopoulos), and eventually, the two go home together.  In the morning, Tomas returns to Martin, confesses his infidelity, and in a panic begins to pack his things.  Martin urges him to stay, but Tomas finds himself continually excited by Agathe and puts the life he has built with Martin at risk. 

Ira Sachs directs Passages from a script he co-wrote with Mauricio Zacharias, debuting the poisoned romance at the Sundance Film Festival before receiving a limited theatrical release from Mubi.  The film was saddled with an NC17 rating which greatly handicapped its performance in theatres, but its reputation preceded it, and it gained incredible buzz ahead of its fall premiere on the streaming platform.  Running a breezy 91 minutes, Passages is an emotional roller coaster and an impressively frantic character study that follows the total unraveling of Tomas at the hands of his own narcissism. 

While the film is a finely balanced ensemble piece, Rogowski is the main object of desire both on a narrative level and in turn, by Josée Deshaies’ lens as well; though Deshaies captures these tortured and sad people in the most graceful light at all times.  Rogowski has quite the task ahead of himself as Tomas is a thorny character comfortable with barking orders at those around him both on and off set coupled with a total lack of self-awareness.  Put this abrasiveness up against Martin who is embodied by the far more tender Whishaw – who delivers what might just be a career-best performance – it is incredible that audiences still find themselves invested in Tomas and do feel, at the very least, a twinge of loss along with him as his life begins to collapse.  Rogowski has amassed quite the resume and his role in Passages is no exception as he continues to take intriguing, unconventional, and challenging roles. 

In a passing comment by Martin at the revelation of Tomas’ affair, we learn that this is not the first time it has happened, and given what we do know about Tomas, it does not appear to be his last.  It is just one of the many bombshell revelations that Sachs’ script will drop on audiences without spending much time examining all of the implications.  On one hand, it helps the film chug along at a snappy pace by not teetering too deep into the melodrama, but with the cast that he has assembled here, it feels a missed opportunity to not let them percolate in their high and volatile emotions together.  For instance, though narratively it makes sense that Agathe does not have that deep of a character to form as she falls victim to Tomas, there are many scenes where it feels strange that she does not have more of a verbal reaction; though perhaps this is more due to Exarchopoulos’ commanding presence that she is able to wrestle control away from Tomas even if on the page that was not Sachs’ intention. One does have to wonder though at the balance of reveling in the simplicity vs the risk of overwriting the script, and would leaning too far one way or the other lessen the impact of say, the abortion reveal to Martin had we seen Agathe and Tomas in the waiting room of the clinic beforehand? It is a question audiences are left to grapple with as the credits roll because there is so much left unsaid between Tomas and Martin that would help us learn more about them as characters and the fraught relationship they share. The pot is certainly boiling, but never quite spills over. This is not to say that Passages is half-baked, we know exactly as much as we need to and when we need to so that we can make sense of the drama, but the characters do not always feel fully like decision-making people as we do not see enough of them to really track their arcs. We bear witness to the results of actions and decisions made off-screen and in private, which is odd given how little privacy Sachs affords these three broken people. 

One of the most interesting things about Passages is how Deshaies frames the shots. There are many scenes that are blocked and framed in unconventional and interesting ways, but it never feels like Sachs or Deshaies are showing off because, like the script, it keeps just enough visual information out of reach of audiences to further instill that sense of gut-wrenching unease. The closest it becomes to bravado filmmaking tactics would be the opening sequence where Tomas is obsessing over how his actor walks down the stairs to enter into a scene with Kubrickian intensity. Deshaies is invasively close to the cast and crew at times, capturing their discomfort with Tomas as he runs the scene over and over and over again, each time demanding a new level of perfection. While his camera will always maintain a level of access to these characters, he and Sachs block the scenes oftentimes with their actors’ backs to the camera. For example, a late-night reconciliation of what Tomas’ latest affair means for him and Martin is shot with Tomas sitting up, his back to the audience while blocking from view Martin.  

Passages is a beguiling film on all fronts, inquisitively shot and scripted in such a way that almost all narrative movement is delivered in the fallout of Thomas’ actions. In this way, it can leave audiences wanting more, especially given the ending which leaves Tomas, most likely, not having learned much from this experience. It is almost fascinating just how self-centered this character is without a single regard for anyone in his orbit unless they are providing him with something. Most often, this is through sexual gratification, and while there is a considerable percentage of screentime devoted to his various exploits with Martin and Agathe, it is very chastely shot and not as exploitative as the buzz would have you believe. Constructed with European sensibility, Passages is an undeniably polarizing film, but no matter what side of the aisle one ends up on, there is plenty to discuss and dissect since there is nary a more interesting trio of characters in recent memory to come together and then absolutely explode apart with such grace and poise. It is a devastating tale of emotional destruction for all involved… except for Tomas, who pedals along to his next exploit, a little dusty but not deterred to follow in pursuit of his whims.