Passages Review: A Sexy Tale Of Self-Destruction

Affairs happen for all sorts of reasons in films. Boredom. Lust. Power. "Passages" gives us a love affair that occurs ... well, sort of just because. It's a testament to both the razor-sharp writing and direction from Ira Sachs and the endlessly fascinating lead performance from Franz Rogowski that this turns out to be the most compelling reason. How does someone throw away a decade-long relationship just because they feel like it? Rogowski, as well as his co-stars Ben Whishaw and Adele Exarchopoulos, deliver a sexy, sensual view into a love triangle where one partner — the most magnetic one, who is a force of nature unto himself — is a raging narcissist determined to hurt everyone who seems to love him.

Martin (Whishaw) and Tomas (Rogowski) have been together for a long time, and from the outside, it seems like they balance each other out pretty well. Martin is a loving, empathetic homebody who provides stability to their relationship, which is sorely needed by the talented but chaotic Tomas. But their romance is thrown out of whack when Tomas, seemingly out of nowhere, announces that he's been having an affair with a woman, Agathe (Exarchopoulos). Why? No one really knows. Maybe because it makes him feel powerful. Maybe because he wanted to prove that he could. Maybe simply because he wanted to, and Tomas is not the kind of person who second-guesses his impulses. 

Whatever the reason behind this sudden affair, it thrusts their relationship into turmoil, as each member of this love (or lust) triangle attempts to navigate a new reality. For the most part, it requires Martin and Agathe to revolve around Tomas, constantly forced to evaluate and then re-evaluate exactly where they stand with him — and for that matter, if they even want to maintain such a toxic situation.

"Passages" is an incredibly intimate drama, and it lives and dies on the strength of its three lead performances. Franz Rogowski especially is captivating in a spectacularly unlikeable role. Tomas doesn't seem like he hurts people because he can – it's more like he can't help it. Rogowski plays him as hedonistic, impulsive, and id-driven, an arrogant director who is used to getting what he wants both on and off set. He breaks everything and everyone he touches, and is somehow surprised when he can't make the pieces fit back together again. As much power as he has in his relationships, the one thing he can't control is when people are well and truly done with him. Tomas flits back and forth between lovers without a thought for the destruction he leaves in his wake -– he sees himself as the main character in all of his relationships, and everyone else is simply waiting around for the moment he graces them with his presence.

Ben Whishaw as Martin, on the other hand, is the emotional heart of "Passages." He loves so purely, so deeply, that the betrayal is almost beyond his ability to process. Whishaw is able to do so much with a mere look, a painfully choked-out word, that he has an endless capacity to elicit compassion from the audience. He is fragile until he discovers the point at which he can be pushed no further, and has to draw a line in the side if only to prevent himself from being hurt anymore. It is one of his strongest, most compelling performances.

As Agathe, Adele Exarchopoulos has the least showy, but perhaps the most difficult role to navigate. To her credit, she takes a character who could be seen as an interloper or homewrecker the audience is already inclined to dislike, and gives her warmth and maturity. Agathe is a third party in this increasingly dysfunctional relationship who makes her way through its turbulence with as much grace as she can muster.

"Passages" is at its best in the moments when Agathe and Martin fully come to terms with the positions they both occupy in Tomas' life, and make decisions based on whether or not they're comfortable with that. In these scenes, we see the difference between Tomas –- a man who is seemingly incapable of caring about the chaos he unleashes around him -– and both of them. Mauricio Zacharias and Ira Sachs' emotionally intelligent screenplay adds nuance to all of their little character beats, even as the narrative is by necessity dominated by the at-times overwhelming presence of Tomas. But it speaks to the quality of all three actors that it's difficult to imagine the film without any one of them, so well do they ebb and flow into each other on screen.

Both sensual and heartbreakingly cruel, "Passages" explores the ramifications — both large and small — of a relationship torn asunder by the whims of one partner. Tomas may make maddening decisions throughout the film, but Franz Rogowski uses him to carve out one of the most compelling villains in recent memory. The more he claims to love someone, the more expertly –- and almost carelessly -– he ruins their lives.

"Passages" hits theaters on August 4.

This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the movie being covered here wouldn't exist.