Passages
Directed by Ira Sachs 
Written by Mauricio Zacharias & Ira Sachs
Starring Franz Rogowski, Ben Whishaw, Adèle Exarchopoulos, and Erwan Kepoa Falé
Runtime 1 hour and 37 minutes
Rated NC-17
In theaters August 4

by Megan Bailey, Staff Writer

Passages poses the question: What if everyone was a little bit chaotic? The film begins with Tomas (Franz Rogowski) in his element, directing a film and instructing actors how to move around in a scene. But we see that he struggles when he doesn’t have as much control over the people around him, specifically his husband, Martin (Ben Whishaw), and Agathe (Adèle Exarchopoulos), a woman with whom he begins having an affair. 

This movie would not be half as captivating if Rogowski were anything less than incredibly charismatic as Tomas. His behavior as a human wrecking ball wouldn’t work for the audience if we didn’t understand why people wanted to be around him. There’s just something about the way he moves and the way he speaks that draws your attention. We can sense the comfort, perhaps boredom, that Tomas feels toward Martin and understand why Agathe feels alluring in their early interactions. And when he tells Agathe that he’s falling in love with her, you believe it, even though they’ve only known each other a short time. 

As we see Martin attempt to set boundaries with Tomas and find a new relationship of his own with Ahmad (Erwan Kepoa Falé), Tomas’s jealousy draws him back in. Tomas and Martin can’t quite make a clean break, and everyone is left reeling in the aftermath. It all stirs up into quite a messy love square. 

While a lot has been said about the sex scenes in this film—indeed, the MPAA rated the film NC-17—I think it’s interesting how the intimacy in the film unfolds. Tomas and Agathe’s first encounter is not shown nearly as explicitly as some of the later scenes, but as the relationships deepen and get more complicated, we see more of everything, and everyone. As Tomas can’t stay away from Agathe, and then later when he can’t quite leave Martin behind, we see them have more intense connections during sex.

I feel it’s important to draw attention to the director’s response to the NC-17 rating, as reported in Vanity Fair: “It’s really about a form of cultural censorship that is quite dangerous, particularly in a culture which is already battling, in such extreme ways, the possibility of LGBT imagery to exist.” MUBI responded as well: “MUBI has officially rejected this NC-17 rating… MUBI remains committed to releasing Passages nationwide in its original version as the filmmaker intended, with our full backing, unrated and uncut.”

This film does directly show sex on screen, and it’s not lost on me that the film is under more scrutiny because it features intimacy between two men. Additionally, the MPAA tends to rate films harsher if they include a woman orgasming, and this film shows that too. I’m glad that MUBI is standing behind Sachs’ work and presenting it as intended. There’s value in showing human sexuality on screen, and this film especially is trying to show how relationships can develop and change over the course of a sexual encounter.

I found Sachs’ direction of this film to be very captivating. Even a telephone call between Tomas and Martin is a chance to make an unexpected choice, as we focus only on Tomas throughout the phone call, and then switch to Martin as he decides to hang up on Tomas. We’ve all seen a million phone calls on screen, and this one was a fresh take.

Which discussions are shown and which aren’t is another point of interest. We don’t see Tomas and Martin decide to break up, but we see Tomas packing up his things and bringing them to Agathe’s place. We don’t see some important conversations later in the film, only the aftermath as information is revealed from one character to another. I really like this choice, as it keeps the audience on our toes to understand the shifting dynamics from scene to scene.

Over the course of the film, we see Tomas struggle with his relationships and how to get his way with people who aren’t always willing to do his bidding. It’s a testament to the film that they all feel like real people, even when Tomas is at his most chaotic. I loved this fresh take on a messy love square.