Passages is now streaming exclusively on MUBI. Watch with 30 days for free here.
For a romance aficionado, there’s nothing more gut-wrenching and attention-grabbing than a complex, feisty, and emotionally-drenched love triangle. Now, transport this setting to what looks like the early November days in Paris, when twilight is cold enough to make every outdoor interaction a steamy one, but the night doesn’t intimidate passionate souls. Passages, director Ira Sachs’ return to the big screen and the newest release from MUBI, needs less than a minute to immerse you in its tangled tale of a messy, modern, and painfully relatable love story.
The film sets the scene on a movie set, where we meet the protagonist Tomas — claiming his place of hierarchy in a story we are about to witness as if we were under his skin. At first glance, the young and successful German film director (Franz Rogowski) has the essence of a misunderstood artist, a single-minded and self-centred creative taking the main stage with his needs as he shouts obvious instructions at actors in charge of bringing his visions to life. Despite knowing little about him at this point, a sense of proximity pulls you towards this character who, as the story unfolds, becomes painfully relatable.
The other vertices of this story belong to Martin, an English printer portrayed by Ben Whishaw, and Agathe, Blue Is The Warmest Colour star Adèle Exarchopoulos. Tomas and Martin are a married couple, clearly learning how to navigate the stage of a relationship where the lines between companionship and passion have become blurry. Their first interaction on screen happens at Tomas’ film wrap party, where Martin is the bored but trying-to-be-supportive partner, with the energy of someone on duty, leaving the celebration as soon as possible with the classic “I have to wake up early for work” excuse.
On the other side of the screen, you can feel the bitter-metallic aftertaste taking over Martin’s expression as he moves, then, to dance with Agathe (Exarchopoulos), a school teacher on a night out with friends fresh from breaking up with her fling minutes before that. It’s unclear if what’s pulling them together is attraction, desire, or the sour space between these feelings and vendetta, mixed with the raw craving for attention.
The night ends up in Agathe’s apartment, as they awkwardly make their way to her room while sharing moments of a leveraging silence that’s both seductive and awkward. Tomas and Agathe’s early love is deeply relatable. What drives them together is a chemistry that is yet to be defined: there’s so much tension, as well as a sense of endless possibilities, that they could run away together or away from each other. Just like any other real-life post-date feeling — it’s intense, confusing, and borderline overwhelming.
Tomas’ nearly wordless encounters with Agathe are noticeably different from his oversharing ones with Martin, beautifully expressing the juxtaposition of a fluid love and how different people and relationships occupy odd places in one’s heart. Martin is synonymous with tenderness, comfort, and grounded love, as someone who not only accepts the developments of a romantic relationship that grows towards companionship, but also learns in his own self-care journey to respect and sharpen his own boundaries. “You can pursue anything that you want, anything that excites you, but you can’t dictate how I feel,” he tells Tomas, in a scene that overflows with emotional maturity as they debate the roles played by both in what feels like an open marriage.
Agathe is a character that balances a sense of naivety and fragility with intense emotions, while she navigates the discovery of a relationship where you know you’re destined to lose. We see a character that, like so many of us, is ready to be flexible and to dissociate from her true self in order to live what feels like a dream. In her life beyond Tomas, Agathe’s relationship with her mother is also a personal highlight of the film, as it beautifully translates the pain of looking for kindness in a figure that’s not capable of delivering it.
This is not your traditional queer story. As the narrative develops, we see Tomas as a character that’s the epitome of a narcissist trying to create his picture-perfect romantic story while losing his sense of self in the duality of a fiery passion and true love. The movie is a graphic and raw celebration of the fluidity of modern love where labels are passed almost untouched. The production has beautifully constructed, bold, and human-driven sex scenes, while making us reflect on the harsh limits of emotional boundaries and the weight of resentments.
Rather than tying everything together neatly, Passages leaves you the space to imagine more based on your experience. Sachs explores the grounds of modern love with sophistication, intelligence, and precision; it’s a toxic, childish and indulgent version of a love that we’ve all experienced once in life — in romantic encounters, familiar settings, or while navigating self-discovery paths. I closed my screen with the same feeling of finishing the last line of a Nora Ephron book: with the certainty of having gone through the silent cathartic experience of listening to someone else putting into words what you always wanted to say. It just… makes sense.