Review of Passages, the new film by Ira Sachs, in theaters only August 17, 2023.
Italian poster of the movie TRANSITIONS is already in cinemas!
MOVIE CARD
DIRECTOR: Ira Sachs
Cast: Franz Rogowski, Ben Whishaw, Adele Exarchopoulos, Erwan Kepoa Fale.
DURATION: 91 minutes
RELEASE: August 17, 2023
DISTRIBUTION: Lucky Red, Mubi
REVIEW
Thomas and Martin’s marriage is in crisis when the former begins a passionate relationship with a young teacher, Agatha. But when Martin also finds a sweetheart, Thomas is faced with decisions he’s not ready or willing to make.
With Passages director Ira Saks translates the heavy contradictions of love and its many forms into imagessocial conventions as opposed to passion and blind desire.
Three characters (masterfully played Franz Rogowski, Ben Whishaw AND Adele Exarchopoulos), the protagonists of a love triangle as unexpected as inevitablelive in complex and toxic relationships that constantly change their axis of balance, in the grip of all-consuming passions, but also in the difficulty of living love truly freely.
Franz Rogowski and Ben Whishaw in a still from the movie Passages. Photo: courtesy of Lucky Red.
Undecided in everything – perhaps in vocation and character – Thomas suffers from the fear of being abandoned and, in fact, continues to quit.
Whether he is pathologically narcissistic or “only” needs continuous dopaminergic innovation that makes him feel alive changes even little.: Thomas is a director, an artist, and artists are explorers, hunters, they cannot be asked not to mutate, not to evolve, not to change, and not even to return, but in any case, never stand still or be confident, reliable and specific. Doubt about what dreams are made of: can’t Thomas truly love, or does he love too much at the same time?
Those who pay the consequences of their wandering activities (roaming because Thomas rides the bike almost like an exhaust valve or source of avoidance, or for getting lost and then finding himself) are trying – unsuccessfully – to put the reins on this maverick. , unable to live in the present because he is too nostalgic for the past and too afraid of the future. Ben Whishaw he is incredible in the interpretation of a man in love and disappointedtoo good to rebel, victim of a deep emotional dependency that has kept him from cutting the umbilical cord with his life partner for over 15 years.
Thomas’ extreme fragility ultimately leads him to manipulate people: just as he does it on set, where he controls everything and everyone in a dystopian way, he also wants to do it in real life and with feelings.. As soon as a person gets out of his control, he immediately looks for a new support, but then returns to the old one when he feels that it is slipping from his fingers.
Adele Exarchopoulos and Franz Rogowski in a scene from the film “Transitions”. Photo: courtesy of Lucky Red.
Contradictions are also staged outside the love triangle.Liberty strange experienced by the three protagonists, in fact, has continuous encounters with the outside world as well, in particular the dinner scene with Agatha’s parents is very revealing, staged to introduce them to Thomas, where respectability will collide with a more clear, truthful, vivid image. life.
A lifestyle that is also expressed in sensual, stunning sex scenes.
In short, the film is an agonizing human pearl, and the most striking thing is undoubtedly the nuances of the characters, their inner content and three-dimensionality.realistic and piercing – each in their own way – and each of them is very easy to empathize with and very difficult to blame any of them.
Elusive and complex, just like in real life, the three characters just live, fall in love, break up, run away, return in a continuous movement that is somewhat reminiscent of the movement of the new wave, even in some of the dialogue you can smell its aroma..
The film is being distributed by Lucky Red and Mubi, a platform that we have been able to discover and love more and more over the years, and which is rediscovering and distributing a rare gem not to be missed.
Margarita Giusti Hazon
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Having received a diploma from the Faculty of Modern Literature, Margarita works at the Italian Film Library, collaborates with the magazine Movie Factoryhas several projects as a screenwriter and published her first novel, CTRL+Zby L’Eruita publishing house.