Rent Passages (2023)

Ira Sachs has gone off the boil - Passages review by JR

I loved Ira Sachs 'Love is Strange' and 'Little Men'. In this film, the main character, Tomas, has no redeeming features. He cheats on his husband with a woman, then he cheats on the woman by almost stalking his ex, and sabotaging the ex's new relationship. The question is why do these two reasonable people - the husband and the woman, find him attractive? Why do they give him so much leeway? The film gives no back story so we have no reason for his appalling toxic narcissistic behaviour. The result is a frustratingly narrow, predictable 'love' triangle, with no wider insights.

Modern Relationship Drama - Passages review by GI

A relationship drama centred around the appalling duplicity of a narcissistic man. It's essentially a love triangle narrative with a mercurial young film director Tomas (Franz Rogowski) married to artist Martin (Ben Whishaw) who begins a passionate affair with Agathe (Adèle Exarchopoulos). Tomas is a selfish, self absorbed young man who can't make up his mind which relationship to commit to and causes an emotional avalanche between the three of them. There's a lot of sex in this film although it's presented sensitively and in keeping with the story. The frustration here is that whilst this is a study of modern relationships the three main characters are either awful (Tomas) or naïve in the extreme and unable to fathom what fools they are in being gaslighted by Tomas. It's superbly acted and Exarchopoulos is especially good here. Ultimately though the film didn't really grab me although it is on occasion very funny.

A boring & eventually trite film about a monstrous narcissist who the director seems enamoured with - Passages review by TB

Narcissists are people who can be great subjects for films & drama, especially if they are brilliant at what they do. A recent great example is Reynolds Woodcock from Phantom Thread, a preening & precocious man-child who whilst at times is exasperating, was none-the-less a great subject for a film about an industry full of perfectionists (fashion.) But, when you are dealing with these types of people, if the character is not carefully written, it just becomes an exercise in suffering through the runtime whilst someone you grow to hate grinds every one of your gears. And this is how I felt after spending 20 minutes in Passage's company.

Thomas is a film director who is finishing up his latest project. He is an arrogant, petulant, insecure & obsessive narcissist, who in the opening shots on the film set is allowed & even encouraged to let his ego run rampant. He is married to Martin, a gentle & caring fellow artist, who clearly has had to put up with untold amounts in their relationship. At the wrap party, after Martin doesn't want to dance with him, Thomas then becomes intimate with Agathe, a beautiful & free-spirited teacher, whom he sleeps with that evening. From there, we follow Thomas as he proceeds to use & manipulate Martin & Agathe, depending on whatever whim or mood he is in.

When watching this, the main feeling I came away with was disgust. The film effectively creates a world where this rampant egotist is tolerated & almost admired, especially in the way it sets up various situations. So for example, early on in the film, Thomas tells Martin gleefully that he has cheated on him with a woman, of course meaning that Martin is not only heartbroken but also mortified. This then results in Thomas feeling "unappreciated," packing his things, storming out & moving in with Agathe. A short time later, he manages to worm his way back into the country house he shares with Martin, before complaining to him that he is upset that Martin isn't happy for him that he cheated on him... And of course, being a disgusting narcissist, when Martin becomes involved with another man, this is intolerable to Thomas, the camera lingering on his face as he sulks & pouts.

As much as some people (as well as a lot of critics,) would argue that the film is shot in a non-judgemental way, effectively allowing us to just see the characters interact, I don't accept this. The script seems enamoured with Thomas, as well as giving him 2 characters who are not only decent people, but also unbelievably tolerant ones who he continually manipulates. All this behaviour sadly starts to make Thomas resemble Brüno, the Sacha Baron-Cohen created gay Austrian fashion reporter, someone who you begin to despise simply because you wonder why you are wasting your time watching him, as well as being mystified as to why the creators are so beguiled by him (at least in Brüno there are some unbelievably funny skits to offset this.)

If your idea of a good film is watching a precocious brat, you will find much to enjoy. However, if you actually want to watch a story with a difficult protagonist who you enjoy spending time with, rent Phantom Thread or Gone Girl