Passages (2023)

Passages is special because it treats desire not as a tidy plot device, but as a force with consequences—messy, magnetic, and painfully human—captured with Ira Sachs’s clear-eyed intimacy. Franz Rogowski gives a fearless, maddeningly alive performance, and the push-pull chemistry with Ben Whishaw and Adèle Exarchopoulos makes every glance and silence feel like a choice being made in real time. The vibe is adult and unsentimental, a Paris-set relationship drama that’s as emotionally raw as it is sharply observed, with sex depicted frankly because it’s inseparable from the characters’ need and confusion. It’s not for everyone—especially if explicit sexuality or flawed, self-sabotaging people frustrate you—but if you want a romance-drama that respects your intelligence and leaves you thinking about how we hurt the people we love, it’s quietly riveting.

Passages is trying to be a raw, adult look at desire, selfishness, and how one impulsive choice can detonate a relationship, with Ira Sachs keeping things intimate and emotionally immediate rather than melodramatic. The problem is you’re stuck in the orbit of Tomas—a prickly, often infuriating protagonist—and the film’s tight perspective can make the drama feel more repetitive and claustrophobic than insightful, like watching someone keep making the same mistake and calling it honesty. If you need characters you can root for, or a love triangle that feels fully explored from all sides, this may register as emotionally narrow and more aggravating than moving. That said, the performances (especially Rogowski and Whishaw) are fearless, and the explicit sex and messy realism will land if you want a candid, uncomfortable relationship study rather than a comforting romance.