Passages
American director Ira Sachs returns with a frank drama studying sexual behaviour in Paris.
Franz Rogowski and Ben Whishaw
Image courtesy of Mubi
Watching Passages, the latest work from Ira Sachs, the assurance with which it has been made convinces one that Sachs has delivered exactly the film that he intended. Nevertheless, this proved to be a piece to which I was unable to warm. Others may more readily accept it for what it is, a candid view of contemporary sexual relationships involving three central characters living in Paris. Tomas (Franz Rogowski) is a German filmmaker who is married to a British graphic artist named Martin (Ben Whishaw) and Agathe (Adèle Exarchopoulos) is a schoolteacher who enters their lives. The film offers a convincing mix of dialogue – some in English and some in French with subtitles – and the players are on fine form. In addition, the colour photography of Josée Deshaies makes its own telling contribution. But for all the persuasiveness to be found in Passages, a burning question hovers over it: is spending time with these characters really satisfying?
As written by Mauricio Zacharias and Sachs himself, Passages starts when Tomas is finishing the making of a film and holds a wrap party. Here we meet Martin also, he being introduced as the husband of Tomas, but it is Agathe, also present, who attracts the attention of Tomas and promptly reciprocates it. They end up spending the night together and next morning Tomas returns home to tell Martin of what he describes as an exciting experience, the first time that he has had sex with a woman.
From that point on, Passages reveals how the relationship between Tomas and Agathe intensifies and does so to the extent that it threatens to break up that between Tomas and Martin. Sexual encounters that ignore set categories of sexuality may well be a feature of our times, but I could not help wondering why Agathe, of whom we initially know so little (it is quite late on that her work in the classroom is shown), should seek out a married gay man as an alternative to her ex-boyfriend. For that matter we learn little detail about the marriage of Tomas and Martin, its strengths and its downsides, beyond the fact that they have been together for years. Beginning the story where the film does, we can only respond to what we see of their present behaviour - both that and the way in which things develop make the characters often appear foolhardy and inconsiderate, not least Tomas. Rogowski, so impressive previously in 2021’s Great Freedom, dominates Passages and brilliantly expresses the emotions that drive Tomas to turn to Agathe, but that doesn't make Tomas a sympathetic figure. Exarchopoulos and Whishaw are no less convincing but, in a film which seems intent on observing as much as anything, the most they can achieve emotionally is to capture the sadness inherent in a late scene in the film which brings them together.
There is no sentimentality here certainly, but what is at heart a tragic tale leaves one largely untouched. This is the more surprising because in such works as his study of childhood friendship (2016’s Little Men) and his portrait of an elderly gay couple (2014’s Love Is Strange) Sachs has given us films that felt deeply humane and involving. The approach here seems deliberately different in tone but quite early on in my viewing of Passages I found myself comparing it to its disadvantage with the Andrew Haigh film Weekend (2011). That British movie’s persuasive view of a gay encounter and its potential had the ability to draw in the viewer and make one care deeply as to how it would work out. As such, it is the antithesis of Passages and consequently it is sharply ironic to find that the end credits find Sachs thanking a number of people and to see among them the name of Andrew Haigh.
MANSEL STIMPSON
Cast: Franz Rogowski, Ben Whishaw, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Erwan Kepoa Falé, Caroline Chaniolleau, Olivier Rabourdin, William Nadylam, Arcadi Radeff, Léa Boublil, Théo Cholbi, Sarah Lisbonis.
Dir Ira Sachs, Pro Saïd Ben Saïd and Michel Merkt, Screenplay Mauricio Zacharias and Ira Sachs, Ph Josée Deshaies, Pro Des Pascale Consigny, Ed Sophie Reine, Costumes Khadija Zeggaï.
SBS Productions/KNM-Mubi.
92 mins. France/Germany. 2023. US Rel: 4 August 2023. UK Rel: 1 September 2023. Cert. 18.
