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1/5
Adele Exarchopoulos and Franz Rogowski star in “Passages”. Photo courtesy of Sundance Institute
January 27 (UPI) — passages, which premiered Monday at the Sundance Film Festival, is about the damage a toxic narcissist can wreak. Unfortunately, this makes the public feel as bad as its victims.
Tomas (Franz Rogowski) is a filmmaker in Paris living with his husband, Martin (Ben Whishaw). During the closing party of his film, Tomas sleeps with Agathe (Adèle Exarchopoulos), his first time with a woman.
A gay husband discovering sex with a woman could be a provocative drama. Instead, Tomas is so insufferable that every character is better off without him.
Tomas does not explore anything sincerely. He’s just doing what makes him feel good, chasing new heights and rubbing it in Martin’s face.
Then when Martin says: “Do what you have to do, but don’t talk to me about it”, Tomas complains to Agathe. He’s just too needy any way you look at him.
Tomas is so needy, he gets irritable when he doesn’t get what he wants. He’s so irritable that the Sundance virtual platform captions even describe the noises Tomas makes during a fit as “irritable.”
And Tomas continues. He meets Agathe’s parents and treats them with equal contempt.
To his credit, Rogowski captures the smug right of someone like Tomas. Tomas probably believes himself every time he changes his mind and begs Agathe or Martin to take him back.
Martin and Agathe open their lives to Tomas and suffer emotionally. passages is sympathetic towards both of them, even though every instance of Tomas’ behavior is a red flag.
Writer/director Ira Sachs seems to recognize this. Sachs has at least supporting characters through Tomas.
Tomas eventually keeps secrets from both Martin and Agathe that hurt each other.
Give passages credit for being relentless. It doesn’t punch or try to explain Tomas’ behavior, but Tomas has a lot to take in for 90 minutes.
Fred Topel, who attended film school at Ithaca College, is a Los Angeles-based UPI entertainment writer. He has been a professional film critic since 1999, a Rotten Tomatoes critic since 2001, and a member of the Television Critics Association since 2012. Read more about his work in Entertainment.