Malaise is the order of the day in Dutch-Bosnian writer-director Ena Sendijarević’s costume drama Sweet Dreams. Set in the Dutch East Indies at the dawn of the 20th century, the film captures the putrefaction of colonial rule with a morbid sense of humor. But for a work that’s all about boredom, Sweet Dreams is far from boring.
It’s the suspicious demise of Dutch sugar plantation owner Jan (Hans Dagelet) that sets the plot in motion. Agathe (Renée Soutendijk), the man’s profoundly cynical widow, writes to their son, Cornelis (Florian Myjer), telling him to return from the Netherlands to take over the estate. But when Cornelis and his pregnant wife, Josefien (Lisa Zweerman), arrive, it turns out that Jan has left everything to Karel (Rio Kak Den Haas), the progeny of his unconcealed liaisons with the family’s domestic servant, Siti (Hayati Azis). If Cornelis and Josefien...
It’s the suspicious demise of Dutch sugar plantation owner Jan (Hans Dagelet) that sets the plot in motion. Agathe (Renée Soutendijk), the man’s profoundly cynical widow, writes to their son, Cornelis (Florian Myjer), telling him to return from the Netherlands to take over the estate. But when Cornelis and his pregnant wife, Josefien (Lisa Zweerman), arrive, it turns out that Jan has left everything to Karel (Rio Kak Den Haas), the progeny of his unconcealed liaisons with the family’s domestic servant, Siti (Hayati Azis). If Cornelis and Josefien...
- 4/7/2024
- by William Repass
- Slant Magazine
by Cláudio Alves
Like it happens every year, as the awards season dawns, I complain that voters should pay more attention to contemporary narratives when recognizing design achievements. In 2023, their reluctance will be especially aggravating since there's such a deep well of costuming excellence within modern contexts. Take Khadija Zeggaï in Passages, for example.
Ira Sachs' latest feature finds Franz Rogowski playing a Paris-based German director entangled in a bisexual love triangle of his own making. As Tomas, the actor is a sartorial tease whether he's in mesh or ratty green knits, while Ben Whishaw is more modest as his artist husband, Martin. Finally, Adèle Exarchopoulos is Agathe, a teacher who dresses like a young Bardot at the height of the Nouvelle Vague - all tight fits, high hems, and lingerie as outerwear. Across the board, fashion defies heteronormative tenets, everything is unisex and sexy to the nth degree. Clothes...
Like it happens every year, as the awards season dawns, I complain that voters should pay more attention to contemporary narratives when recognizing design achievements. In 2023, their reluctance will be especially aggravating since there's such a deep well of costuming excellence within modern contexts. Take Khadija Zeggaï in Passages, for example.
Ira Sachs' latest feature finds Franz Rogowski playing a Paris-based German director entangled in a bisexual love triangle of his own making. As Tomas, the actor is a sartorial tease whether he's in mesh or ratty green knits, while Ben Whishaw is more modest as his artist husband, Martin. Finally, Adèle Exarchopoulos is Agathe, a teacher who dresses like a young Bardot at the height of the Nouvelle Vague - all tight fits, high hems, and lingerie as outerwear. Across the board, fashion defies heteronormative tenets, everything is unisex and sexy to the nth degree. Clothes...
- 11/7/2023
- by Cláudio Alves
- FilmExperience
It takes place on a sugar plantation, but Ena Sendijarević’s magnificently composed, eerily satirical “Sweet Dreams” has something more like acid flowing through its veins. Acid — or maybe formaldehyde, given the embalmed pallor of the dysfunctional Dutch colonial family whose values are so elegantly dissected within it. In only her second feature, after the Rotterdam-awarded “Take Me Somewhere Nice,” the Bosnian-Dutch filmmaker has established herself as a formidable talent with an eye for absurdity in Academy ratio, and a feel for the manicured, placid surfaces that contain rot and rebellion just as corsetry cinches in flesh.
It is 1900, and this little corner of the Dutch East Indies is verdant, damp jungle terrain. The air is thick with biting insects. Vincent Sinceretti’s extravagantly rich sound design is so multilayered that you can differentiate the crickets from the gnats from the omnipresent, whining mosquitoes. But part of the wilderness has been tamed — or more accurately,...
It is 1900, and this little corner of the Dutch East Indies is verdant, damp jungle terrain. The air is thick with biting insects. Vincent Sinceretti’s extravagantly rich sound design is so multilayered that you can differentiate the crickets from the gnats from the omnipresent, whining mosquitoes. But part of the wilderness has been tamed — or more accurately,...
- 8/25/2023
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety Film + TV
Ira Sachs’ Passages, which is expanding its release this weekend, has become known for its sex scenes, but the filmmaker believes audiences are drawn to it for a different reason.
The story of a married gay couple in Paris whose relationship unravels when one partner (Franz Rogowski) begins an affair with a woman (Adèle Exarchopoulos) includes crucial moments of intercourse that ignited discussion about the state of intimacy in American cinema, especially following the news that the MPA gave the film an Nc-17 rating. The version seen now in theaters is unrated.
But, in a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Sachs argues that audiences are drawn to the film less because of the sex and more because of the emotional density of its subject matter. “I feel like people are happy to see an adult film, to be honest,” Sachs says. “I’m not sure the sex is what...
The story of a married gay couple in Paris whose relationship unravels when one partner (Franz Rogowski) begins an affair with a woman (Adèle Exarchopoulos) includes crucial moments of intercourse that ignited discussion about the state of intimacy in American cinema, especially following the news that the MPA gave the film an Nc-17 rating. The version seen now in theaters is unrated.
But, in a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Sachs argues that audiences are drawn to the film less because of the sex and more because of the emotional density of its subject matter. “I feel like people are happy to see an adult film, to be honest,” Sachs says. “I’m not sure the sex is what...
- 8/11/2023
- by Esther Zuckerman
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Writer-director Ena Sendijarević’s second feature, Sweet Dreams, follows a recent trend of arthouse films — including Zama, The Settlers and The Tale of King Crab — that explore Europe’s troubled colonial history through a postmodern mix of satire, surrealism and cinematic lyricism.
All of these elements are present in a story set in 1900 in the Dutch East Indies, where a family running a prosperous sugar plantation finds its status quo upended when their patriarch suddenly passes away. Left to deal with the fallout, the landowner’s wife and children are quickly exposed to the limits, as well as the terrors, of colonialism, in the face of Indigenous people who refuse to keep bowing down.
Shot in the 1.33:1 Academy ratio and divided into chapters like a novella, Sendijarević’s movie maintains a certain distance from its subject, gazing at it through a contemporary prism that critiques the racism and exploitation of the epoch.
All of these elements are present in a story set in 1900 in the Dutch East Indies, where a family running a prosperous sugar plantation finds its status quo upended when their patriarch suddenly passes away. Left to deal with the fallout, the landowner’s wife and children are quickly exposed to the limits, as well as the terrors, of colonialism, in the face of Indigenous people who refuse to keep bowing down.
Shot in the 1.33:1 Academy ratio and divided into chapters like a novella, Sendijarević’s movie maintains a certain distance from its subject, gazing at it through a contemporary prism that critiques the racism and exploitation of the epoch.
- 8/7/2023
- by Jordan Mintzer
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
“I wanted to make a movie of pleasure,” offers Ira Sachs. “For me, that means skin is revealed. Skin is part of what cinema can offer in a way that creates a kind of… horny environment for the audience and the actors.”
Sachs, the veteran indie filmmaker behind intimate dramas like Forty Shades of Blue and Love Is Strange, is discussing his stellar latest, Passages, about a libertine director in Paris, Tomas (Franz Rogowski), who decides to have an affair with a woman, Agathe (Adéle Exarchopoulos), despite being in a...
Sachs, the veteran indie filmmaker behind intimate dramas like Forty Shades of Blue and Love Is Strange, is discussing his stellar latest, Passages, about a libertine director in Paris, Tomas (Franz Rogowski), who decides to have an affair with a woman, Agathe (Adéle Exarchopoulos), despite being in a...
- 8/6/2023
- by Marlow Stern
- Rollingstone.com
As Leo Tolstoy wrote, all happy families are alike, while each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. The rich cry too and there is something universal about the rivalries between the loved and the unloved wives, sons and heirs, regardless of their social status. So, why would the family of the sugar plantation owners in the Dutch East Indies in Ena Sendijarević's sophomore feature “Sweet Dreams” be any different? The film has just world-premiered at Locarno, where we also caught it.
Sweet Dreams is screening in Locarno Film Festival
Somewhere in Indonesia in the early 1900s, Jan (Hans Dagelet) owns the plantation and the sugar processing plant and rules it with an iron fist. He is no softer even at home, where he commands over his seemingly blasée European wife Agathe (Renée Soutendijk) and his Indonesian housekeeper-lover-concubine Siti (Hayati Azis), while the two battle one another, each...
Sweet Dreams is screening in Locarno Film Festival
Somewhere in Indonesia in the early 1900s, Jan (Hans Dagelet) owns the plantation and the sugar processing plant and rules it with an iron fist. He is no softer even at home, where he commands over his seemingly blasée European wife Agathe (Renée Soutendijk) and his Indonesian housekeeper-lover-concubine Siti (Hayati Azis), while the two battle one another, each...
- 8/6/2023
- by Marko Stojiljković
- AsianMoviePulse
Ira Sachs’ latest feature, “Passages,” has already garnered a hefty amount of attention, particularly for being given an Nc-17 rating due to its frank depiction of sexuality (while continuing to showcase the double standard in ratings often given to LGBTQ films). In a way, there’s an irony to everyone focusing on the film’s overt, shall we say extra, sexuality at the expense of its characters because, after all, this is the story of a narcissist who uses sex as a weapon.
“Passages” is the story of Tomas (Franz Rogowski), a film director whose enthusiasm for life and fun is tempered by his husband, the quiet Martin (Ben Whishaw). When Tomas finds himself drawn to the exuberant Agathe (Adèle Exarchopoulos), he decides to leave his husband for her. But that’s only the start of a tangled web of relationships that sees the three still seeking solace in each other.
“Passages” is the story of Tomas (Franz Rogowski), a film director whose enthusiasm for life and fun is tempered by his husband, the quiet Martin (Ben Whishaw). When Tomas finds himself drawn to the exuberant Agathe (Adèle Exarchopoulos), he decides to leave his husband for her. But that’s only the start of a tangled web of relationships that sees the three still seeking solace in each other.
- 8/4/2023
- by Kristen Lopez
- The Wrap
You can find hundreds of egotistical monsters who’ve graced movie screens (don’t get us started on the ones working behind the scenes; that’s a whole other piece), but few of them can compare to Tomas Freiburg. A renowned filmmaker who’s a tyrant on set — his volatile Rainer Werner Fassbinder vibe is strong, and he will scream at an extra to walk down stairs and swing his hands the exact right way until He. Gets. What. He. Wants! — Tomas is a genuine terror when it comes to his personal relationships.
- 8/4/2023
- by David Fear
- Rollingstone.com
Normally at the top of these Don’t-Miss Indies round-ups, we like to make a little joke that’s somewhat topical. But if you’ve been paying attention to what’s been going on in Hollywood for the past couple of months, you’ll know that the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes are no laughing matter (unless we’re talking about the writers’ signs.) In fact, right at press time not one but two of this months featured titles have been pushed, due to strike-related issues.
And while our blog deadlines being imperiled by the inhuman machinery of Late Capitalism is certainly a headache, our real concern is the wellbeing of our filmmaking community during this lean, labor-conscious strike period. Please consider donating to artist support funds like this or this.
Shortcomings
When You Can Watch: August 4
Where You Can Watch: Theaters
Director: Randall Park
Cast: Justin H. Min,...
And while our blog deadlines being imperiled by the inhuman machinery of Late Capitalism is certainly a headache, our real concern is the wellbeing of our filmmaking community during this lean, labor-conscious strike period. Please consider donating to artist support funds like this or this.
Shortcomings
When You Can Watch: August 4
Where You Can Watch: Theaters
Director: Randall Park
Cast: Justin H. Min,...
- 8/3/2023
- by Su Fang Tham
- Film Independent News & More
Ben Whishaw has stealthily become one of Britain’s most prominent actors, offering kind aphorisms as the voice of Paddington Bear and issuing intelligent retorts as the latest incarnation of Q in the James Bond series. But a deeper look at his filmography over more than two decades reveals a much more varied body of work. From the meek gentility of Women Talking to the brutal physicality of Surge, from playing with the iconography of Bob Dylan in Todd Haynes’s I’m Not There to committing to the absurdist antics of Yorgos Lanthimos’s The Lobster, Whishaw knows how to surprise in any register.
The actor gets one of his most compelling showcases to date in Ira Sachs’s Passages. As the graphic artist Martin, he’s one corner of an emerging love triangle between his husband, the film director Tomas (an electric Franz Rogowski), and the Parisian schoolteacher Agathe...
The actor gets one of his most compelling showcases to date in Ira Sachs’s Passages. As the graphic artist Martin, he’s one corner of an emerging love triangle between his husband, the film director Tomas (an electric Franz Rogowski), and the Parisian schoolteacher Agathe...
- 8/2/2023
- by Marshall Shaffer
- Slant Magazine
Tomas (Franz Rogowski) seems to have it all: a career as a director, marriage to Martin (Ben Whishaw), and the freedom to pursue his desires as he wishes. In Passages’ first scene, he works on his latest film. But he’s alienated Martin, and their marriage is on its last legs. He pursues his desires in a willful, selfish manner; although he’s queer and rather androgynous, his behavior reflects the worst aspects of masculine pretense. His philandering has led to a new relationship with Agathe (Adèle Exarchopoulos), a teacher, but the fact that he barges in on her while she’s working epitomizes his flaws.
Director Ira Sachs’ second film for the French Sbs Productions company is set in a Paris familiar from Maurice Pialat and Philippe Garrel films, but the director brings an outsider’s perspective. Sachs’ style brings an uncomfortable intimacy to Tomas’ relationships, breaking conventional rules...
Director Ira Sachs’ second film for the French Sbs Productions company is set in a Paris familiar from Maurice Pialat and Philippe Garrel films, but the director brings an outsider’s perspective. Sachs’ style brings an uncomfortable intimacy to Tomas’ relationships, breaking conventional rules...
- 8/2/2023
- by Steve Erickson
- The Film Stage
(Welcome to Under the Radar, a column where we spotlight specific movies, shows, trends, performances, or scenes that caught our eye and deserved more attention ... but otherwise flew under the radar. In this edition: the pain of artistry takes centerstage in "Afire," "Passages" breaks down all boundaries, and "They Cloned Tyrone" puts a sci-fi twist on the American dream.)
You've heard of Barbenheimer, the phenomenon currently sweeping the globe (and getting Warner Bros.' social media team in trouble), but may I introduce you to Pass-afire? The one-two punch of director Ira Sach's "Passages" and Christian Petzold's "Afire" might not have the big-budget cachet of the two blockbuster behemoths currently duking it out in theaters, but this pair of shockingly complimentary character studies takes a much quieter, moodier, and thrillingly vibrant approach to dissecting much more relatable, everyday issues. Centered on two maddening artists who struggle mightily to articulate...
You've heard of Barbenheimer, the phenomenon currently sweeping the globe (and getting Warner Bros.' social media team in trouble), but may I introduce you to Pass-afire? The one-two punch of director Ira Sach's "Passages" and Christian Petzold's "Afire" might not have the big-budget cachet of the two blockbuster behemoths currently duking it out in theaters, but this pair of shockingly complimentary character studies takes a much quieter, moodier, and thrillingly vibrant approach to dissecting much more relatable, everyday issues. Centered on two maddening artists who struggle mightily to articulate...
- 8/1/2023
- by Jeremy Mathai
- Slash Film
Filmmaker Ira Sachs has called the Motion Picture Association’s decision to give his film an Nc-17 rating “a form of cultural censorship.”
In a conversation with the Los Angeles Times, Sachs said that the MPA rating “is quite dangerous, particularly in a culture which is already battling, in such extreme ways, the possibility of LGBT imagery to exist.”
An Nc-17 rating would limit the audience, as no one under 17 would be admitted. Certain theaters would also likely not carry it.
“We hunger for movies that are in any proximity to our own experience,” the director added. “To find a movie like this, which is then shut out, is, to me, depressing and reactionary.”
Distributor Mubi acquired the film out of Sundance. It backed Sachs’ sentiments, and said the film will be released unrated in New York and Los Angeles theaters on August 4, with a wider rollout to follow.
“Mubi...
In a conversation with the Los Angeles Times, Sachs said that the MPA rating “is quite dangerous, particularly in a culture which is already battling, in such extreme ways, the possibility of LGBT imagery to exist.”
An Nc-17 rating would limit the audience, as no one under 17 would be admitted. Certain theaters would also likely not carry it.
“We hunger for movies that are in any proximity to our own experience,” the director added. “To find a movie like this, which is then shut out, is, to me, depressing and reactionary.”
Distributor Mubi acquired the film out of Sundance. It backed Sachs’ sentiments, and said the film will be released unrated in New York and Los Angeles theaters on August 4, with a wider rollout to follow.
“Mubi...
- 7/20/2023
- by Bruce Haring
- Deadline Film + TV
Filmmaker Ira Sachs has spoken out against the Motion Picture Association’s Nc-17 rating of his Sundance film “Passages,” slamming the ratings board as “anti-progress” and saying that he will not recut his film to earn an R rating and will instead release the film unrated with distributor Mubi.
“There’s no untangling the film from what it is,” Sachs told The Los Angeles Times. “It is a film that is very open about the place of sexual experience in our lives. And to shift that now would be to create a very different movie.”
“Passages,” which premiered at Sundance this year, follows a same-sex couple, Tomas and Martin (Franz Rogowski and Ben Whishaw), whose relationship is upended when Tomas has an affair with a woman named Agathe (Adèle Exarchapoulos). The film shows how those relationships change through a series of sex scenes both gay and heterosexual, including one that...
“There’s no untangling the film from what it is,” Sachs told The Los Angeles Times. “It is a film that is very open about the place of sexual experience in our lives. And to shift that now would be to create a very different movie.”
“Passages,” which premiered at Sundance this year, follows a same-sex couple, Tomas and Martin (Franz Rogowski and Ben Whishaw), whose relationship is upended when Tomas has an affair with a woman named Agathe (Adèle Exarchapoulos). The film shows how those relationships change through a series of sex scenes both gay and heterosexual, including one that...
- 7/19/2023
- by Jeremy Fuster
- The Wrap
Sundance breakout film “Passages” has received a Nc-17 rating from the Motion Picture Association, which writer-director Ira Sachs has called a form of “cultural censorship” in an interview with the Los Angeles Times. Distributor Mubi has confirmed to IndieWire that it will release the film unrated in NY and LA theaters on August 4 as intended, with a wider rollout to follow.
The Times first reported that “Passages” obtained the rare MPA classification, which could limit how many theaters “Passages” can play in.
The film follows queer director Tomas (Franz Rogowski), who begins a love affair with a young schoolteacher, Agathe (Adèle Exarchopoulos) outside of his marriage to Martin (Ben Whishaw). The film has numerous sex scenes, including a frank extended sequence involving Tomas and Martin filmed in one take.
Sachs said he never considered editing the film to obtain an R rating, and that the decision to reject the Nc-17 was unanimous with Mubi.
The Times first reported that “Passages” obtained the rare MPA classification, which could limit how many theaters “Passages” can play in.
The film follows queer director Tomas (Franz Rogowski), who begins a love affair with a young schoolteacher, Agathe (Adèle Exarchopoulos) outside of his marriage to Martin (Ben Whishaw). The film has numerous sex scenes, including a frank extended sequence involving Tomas and Martin filmed in one take.
Sachs said he never considered editing the film to obtain an R rating, and that the decision to reject the Nc-17 was unanimous with Mubi.
- 7/19/2023
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
After world premiering at Sundance earlier this year, a teaser trailer has dropped for director Ira Sachs’s Passages. Co-written by Sachs and Mauricio Zacharias, the film will arrive in theaters later this summer. An official synopsis reads: After completing his latest project, filmmaker Tomas (Franz Rogowski) impulsively begins a heated love affair with a young schoolteacher, Agathe (Adèle Exarchopoulos). For Tomas, the novelty of being with a woman is an exciting experience that he is eager to explore despite his marriage to Martin (Ben Whishaw). But when Martin begins his own affair, the mercurial Tomas refocuses his attentions on his […]
The post Trailer Watch: Ira Sachs’s Passages first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post Trailer Watch: Ira Sachs’s Passages first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 5/12/2023
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
After world premiering at Sundance earlier this year, a teaser trailer has dropped for director Ira Sachs’s Passages. Co-written by Sachs and Mauricio Zacharias, the film will arrive in theaters later this summer. An official synopsis reads: After completing his latest project, filmmaker Tomas (Franz Rogowski) impulsively begins a heated love affair with a young schoolteacher, Agathe (Adèle Exarchopoulos). For Tomas, the novelty of being with a woman is an exciting experience that he is eager to explore despite his marriage to Martin (Ben Whishaw). But when Martin begins his own affair, the mercurial Tomas refocuses his attentions on his […]
The post Trailer Watch: Ira Sachs’s Passages first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post Trailer Watch: Ira Sachs’s Passages first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 5/12/2023
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
"You know what I was doing last night?" Mubi has unveiled the first teaser trailer for Passages, the latest film from American filmmaker Ira Sachs. This premiered at both the 2023 Sundance & Berlin Film Festivals earlier this year, earning rave reviews from critics calling it one of the best of both fests. The film is about two men who've been together for fifteen years and what happens when one of them has an affair with a woman. It's a very open LGBTQ film about polyamory, but also about the shifting dynamics of relationships and how emotions and feelings and sexuality can change and evolve – and get a bit sticky. Starring Franz Rogowski as Tomas, Ben Whishaw as Martin, Adèle Exarchopoulos as Agathe, with Erwan Kepoa Falé, Arcadi Radeff, and Léa Boublil. Reviews states it's "unapologetically sexy and infinitely wise… examines the ever-evolving nature of attraction with both intelligence and a sense of humor.
- 5/12/2023
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
The summer just got quite a bit hotter. Directed by Ira Sachs, Passages brings together Franz Rogowski, Adèle Exarchopoulos, and Ben Whishaw for a tale of fierce passion. Following the film’s rapturous response at Sundance and Berlinale, Mubi will release the drama in theaters this August and now the first teaser has arrived.
Here’s the synopsis: “After completing his latest project, filmmaker Tomas (Franz Rogowski) impulsively begins a heated love affair with a young schoolteacher, Agathe (Adèle Exarchopoulos). For Tomas, the novelty of being with a woman is an exciting experience that he is eager to explore despite his marriage to Martin (Ben Whishaw). But when Martin begins his own affair, the mercurial Tomas refocuses his attentions on his husband. Set in contemporary Paris, Passages charts an escalating battle of desire between three people, where want is a constant and happiness is just out of reach. Exquisitely shot and featuring honest,...
Here’s the synopsis: “After completing his latest project, filmmaker Tomas (Franz Rogowski) impulsively begins a heated love affair with a young schoolteacher, Agathe (Adèle Exarchopoulos). For Tomas, the novelty of being with a woman is an exciting experience that he is eager to explore despite his marriage to Martin (Ben Whishaw). But when Martin begins his own affair, the mercurial Tomas refocuses his attentions on his husband. Set in contemporary Paris, Passages charts an escalating battle of desire between three people, where want is a constant and happiness is just out of reach. Exquisitely shot and featuring honest,...
- 5/12/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Luther’s back. Being banged up at the end of Series 5 didn’t stop that growly genius from taking on a new case and a new villain in Bond-inspired Netflix movie The Fallen Sun. And, since most of his former colleagues were spectacularly killed in the line of duty, the man’s being joined by a fresh cast.
Dermot Crowley returns as John Luther’s former boss Dsu Martin Schenk, who’s joined by Cynthia Erivo as Luther’s replacement on the team, and far from his biggest fan. Going toe-to-toe with Idris Elba’s John will be Andy Serkis as surveillance tech billionaire David Robey, possibly the detective’s darkest foe yet.
And what of Ruth Wilson’s Alice, last seen taking a short drop off a tall tower? She’s not listed among the cast this time, but there’s no saying that wily brainbox won’t find...
Dermot Crowley returns as John Luther’s former boss Dsu Martin Schenk, who’s joined by Cynthia Erivo as Luther’s replacement on the team, and far from his biggest fan. Going toe-to-toe with Idris Elba’s John will be Andy Serkis as surveillance tech billionaire David Robey, possibly the detective’s darkest foe yet.
And what of Ruth Wilson’s Alice, last seen taking a short drop off a tall tower? She’s not listed among the cast this time, but there’s no saying that wily brainbox won’t find...
- 3/10/2023
- by Louisa Mellor
- Den of Geek
Global indie streamer distributor and producer Mubi has acquired all rights in several key European territories to “Passages,” the erotic drama by Ira Sachs that bowed with a splash at Sundance and just had its European premiere at the Berlin Film Festival.
Following the world premiere of “Passages” at Sundance Mubi last month snapped up all rights for the U.S., U.K., Ireland and Latin America to the U.S. indie darling director’s first film shot in France.
Now Mubi has acquired additional European territories on “Passages” including for Germany, Austria, Italy, Turkey and Benelux. The Benelux pickup is in partnership with Belgium’s Imagine Film Distribution.
In line with Mubi’s business model, which is open to integrating theatrical and streaming play, Mubi will be releasing “Passages” theatrically in these territories, according to a company rep.
The “Passages” deal for these territories was sealed between Mubi and Sbs Films International,...
Following the world premiere of “Passages” at Sundance Mubi last month snapped up all rights for the U.S., U.K., Ireland and Latin America to the U.S. indie darling director’s first film shot in France.
Now Mubi has acquired additional European territories on “Passages” including for Germany, Austria, Italy, Turkey and Benelux. The Benelux pickup is in partnership with Belgium’s Imagine Film Distribution.
In line with Mubi’s business model, which is open to integrating theatrical and streaming play, Mubi will be releasing “Passages” theatrically in these territories, according to a company rep.
The “Passages” deal for these territories was sealed between Mubi and Sbs Films International,...
- 2/24/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
There's something indefinable about Franz Rogowski. The German actor has undoubtedly left his mark in the last few years, in exciting European films like "Undine," "Transit," and "Great Freedom." He's never over the top in ways that demand your attention — he can do that through sheer magnetism in ways that most performers can only dream of. Rogowski uses small, thoughtful details to embody his characters, making every character feel complete. He's particularly effective as a romantic lead, so effortlessly seductive in ways that make it believable that just about anyone could fall under his spell.
I can think of no better actor than Rogowski to embody Tomas, a frustrated filmmaker in Ira Sach's tremendous new film "Passages." The film begins with Tomas wrapping up shooting his latest movie. He's annoyed over the way a performer is descending a staircase, and Tomas' instructions are muddled to the point that the actor...
I can think of no better actor than Rogowski to embody Tomas, a frustrated filmmaker in Ira Sach's tremendous new film "Passages." The film begins with Tomas wrapping up shooting his latest movie. He's annoyed over the way a performer is descending a staircase, and Tomas' instructions are muddled to the point that the actor...
- 1/29/2023
- by Barry Levitt
- Slash Film
“I had sex with a woman last night,” says Tomas (Franz Rogowski) to his partner, Martin (Ben Whishaw). “Can I tell you about it?” This is a place they’ve been before. Martin says that it happens whenever Tomas, a filmmaker, finishes a movie. And this is fine. It is what it is. All of the fights they’ve had to this point, all of the fights that they’re about to have, both because of this transgression and because of the others that are promised to come — all of it,...
- 1/26/2023
- by K. Austin Collins
- Rollingstone.com
Taking the Scorsese wisdom of “more than 90 of directing a picture is the right casting” to heart, Ira Sachs’ radiantly sexual three-hander Passages couldn’t have assembled a finer trio of actors to explore modern love in all its splendor and messiness. Tomas (Franz Rogowski), a German filmmaker finishing up his latest shoot, is married to Martin (Ben Whishaw), but when Agathe (Adèle Exarchopoulos) comes into Tomas’ life, his world is torn asunder with a fiery passion. In his most mature and focused work to date, Sachs stays mostly centered on Tomas as his shifting heart gets pulled in different directions, Rogowski’s fierce magnetism transfixing the viewer even as his character’s behavior grows all the more erratic.
Inspired by the love triangle of Luchino Visconti’s final film The Innocent, Sachs doesn’t operate on a similarly operatic level, but both films do carry a shared sense of...
Inspired by the love triangle of Luchino Visconti’s final film The Innocent, Sachs doesn’t operate on a similarly operatic level, but both films do carry a shared sense of...
- 1/26/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
One of the best-reviewed films at this year’s Sundance, Ira Sachs’s Passages sold to Mubi for four territories, including the US and UK, shortly after its premiere. The drama is fueled by the love triangle that emerges when film director Tomas (Franz Rogowski) cheats on artist husband Martin (Ben Whishaw) with teacher Agathe (Adèle Exarchopoulos). The Paris-set drama marks Sachs’s first time working with French cinematographer Josée Deshais (Saint Laurent), who discusses her work on the film below. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer of your film? Deshais: Ira approached me because of a French film I […]
The post “Alexa Mini, My Best Friend in Digital Cinematography”: Dp Josée Deshais on Passages first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “Alexa Mini, My Best Friend in Digital Cinematography”: Dp Josée Deshais on Passages first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 1/26/2023
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
One of the best-reviewed films at this year’s Sundance, Ira Sachs’s Passages sold to Mubi for four territories, including the US and UK, shortly after its premiere. The drama is fueled by the love triangle that emerges when film director Tomas (Franz Rogowski) cheats on artist husband Martin (Ben Whishaw) with teacher Agathe (Adèle Exarchopoulos). The Paris-set drama marks Sachs’s first time working with French cinematographer Josée Deshais (Saint Laurent), who discusses her work on the film below. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer of your film? Deshais: Ira approached me because of a French film I […]
The post “Alexa Mini, My Best Friend in Digital Cinematography”: Dp Josée Deshais on Passages first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “Alexa Mini, My Best Friend in Digital Cinematography”: Dp Josée Deshais on Passages first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 1/26/2023
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
After screening at the Sundance Film Festival, the Ira Sachs film Passages has landed at Mubi in the US, UK, Ireland and Latin America.
The synopsis for the film reads: “After completing his latest project, filmmaker Tomas (Franz Rogowski) impulsively begins a heated love affair with a young school teacher, Agathe (Adèle Exarchopoulos). For Tomas, the novelty of being with a woman is an exciting experience that he is eager to explore despite his marriage to Martin (Ben Whishaw). But when Martin begins his own affair, the mercurial Tomas refocuses his attention on his husband.”
Saïd Ben Saïd (Elle, Bacarau) and Michel Merkt (Toni Erdmann) produced the movie, which is bound for the Berlin Film Festival in the Panorama section.
The Hollywood Reporter’s Sundance review of the film calls it a “wise and unusually wounding work from a beloved indie auteur.”
Mubi is planning a 2023 theatrical release for the film in the acquired territories,...
The synopsis for the film reads: “After completing his latest project, filmmaker Tomas (Franz Rogowski) impulsively begins a heated love affair with a young school teacher, Agathe (Adèle Exarchopoulos). For Tomas, the novelty of being with a woman is an exciting experience that he is eager to explore despite his marriage to Martin (Ben Whishaw). But when Martin begins his own affair, the mercurial Tomas refocuses his attention on his husband.”
Saïd Ben Saïd (Elle, Bacarau) and Michel Merkt (Toni Erdmann) produced the movie, which is bound for the Berlin Film Festival in the Panorama section.
The Hollywood Reporter’s Sundance review of the film calls it a “wise and unusually wounding work from a beloved indie auteur.”
Mubi is planning a 2023 theatrical release for the film in the acquired territories,...
- 1/24/2023
- by Mia Galuppo
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Mubi has taken U.S., UK, Ireland and Latin America rights to the Ira Sachs-directed Passages, which made its world premiere in the Premieres section of this year’s Sundance Film Festival.
Related Story ‘Passages’ Sundance Film Review: Ira Sachs’ Relationship Drama Excites & Frustrates Related Story Sundance Review: Randall Park's Heartwarming 'Shortcomings' Related Story 'Talk To Me' Directing Duo Danny & Michael Philippou Sign With WME Following Film's Midnight Premiere At Sundance
In contemporary Paris, German filmmaker Tomas (Franz Rogowski) embraces his sexuality through a torrid love affair with a young woman named Agathe (Palme d’Or winner Adèle Exarchopoulos), an impulse that blurs the lines that define his relationship with his husband, Martin (Ben Whishaw). When Martin begins an extramarital affair of his own, he successfully gains back his husband’s attention while simultaneously unearthing Tomas’ jealousy. Grappling with contradicting emotions, Tomas must either embrace the...
Related Story ‘Passages’ Sundance Film Review: Ira Sachs’ Relationship Drama Excites & Frustrates Related Story Sundance Review: Randall Park's Heartwarming 'Shortcomings' Related Story 'Talk To Me' Directing Duo Danny & Michael Philippou Sign With WME Following Film's Midnight Premiere At Sundance
In contemporary Paris, German filmmaker Tomas (Franz Rogowski) embraces his sexuality through a torrid love affair with a young woman named Agathe (Palme d’Or winner Adèle Exarchopoulos), an impulse that blurs the lines that define his relationship with his husband, Martin (Ben Whishaw). When Martin begins an extramarital affair of his own, he successfully gains back his husband’s attention while simultaneously unearthing Tomas’ jealousy. Grappling with contradicting emotions, Tomas must either embrace the...
- 1/24/2023
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
Ira Sachs’ latest film centers on a three-way relationship between two men and a woman as they navigate their way through love, lust and heartbreak.
Passages begins on a film set. Tomas (Franz Rogowski), a German man in Paris, is directing a period piece. On set, he’s a hardass, always yelling, screaming and nitpicking about small things. After shooting, he goes to the film wrap party with his husband Martin (Ben Whishaw), but he is less than enthusiastic about the event, so he leaves the forlorn Tomas alone to dance with Agathe (Adèle Exarchopoulos). The two head to another party, and without any indication that they even like each other, they have sex. Maybe it’s the first time he’s had sex with a woman, and he tells his husband about it as if he is supposed to be happy for him? Of course, this starts an argument between the two,...
Passages begins on a film set. Tomas (Franz Rogowski), a German man in Paris, is directing a period piece. On set, he’s a hardass, always yelling, screaming and nitpicking about small things. After shooting, he goes to the film wrap party with his husband Martin (Ben Whishaw), but he is less than enthusiastic about the event, so he leaves the forlorn Tomas alone to dance with Agathe (Adèle Exarchopoulos). The two head to another party, and without any indication that they even like each other, they have sex. Maybe it’s the first time he’s had sex with a woman, and he tells his husband about it as if he is supposed to be happy for him? Of course, this starts an argument between the two,...
- 1/24/2023
- by Valerie Complex
- Deadline Film + TV
There are unlikable protagonists, and then there’s Tomas, the tragicomically insufferable narcissist at the center of Ira Sachs’ Passages. A German film director living in Paris, Tomas is, to borrow an overused term, “toxic” — a guy who lies and leeches, connives and cajoles, fucks and finagles his way through the world, his talent and impish, overcaffeinated magnetism clearing the path.
The most endearing thing about Tomas is how utterly decipherable his awfulness is. The fragility of his ego and his insatiable need to be not just desired, but revered, coddled, stimulated — you name it — are so evident as to be almost touching. (If it wasn’t clear: Folks who require niceness in a main character, this one’s not for you.)
Played by a sensational Franz Rogowski (Transit, Great Freedom), Tomas is also an undeniable force of nature. That goes a long way toward explaining the grip he has...
The most endearing thing about Tomas is how utterly decipherable his awfulness is. The fragility of his ego and his insatiable need to be not just desired, but revered, coddled, stimulated — you name it — are so evident as to be almost touching. (If it wasn’t clear: Folks who require niceness in a main character, this one’s not for you.)
Played by a sensational Franz Rogowski (Transit, Great Freedom), Tomas is also an undeniable force of nature. That goes a long way toward explaining the grip he has...
- 1/23/2023
- by Jon Frosch
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Editor’s note: This review was originally published at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Mubi releases the film in limited theaters on Friday, August 4, with expansion to follow.
Not long into Ira Sachs’ “Passages” — sometime all too shortly after a restless, self-involved filmmaker (Franz Rogowski) leaves his much softer husband (Ben Whishaw) for the earthy and new woman (Adèle Exarchopoulos) he meets at a dance club after a stressful day of shooting — Tomas launches into a post-coital chat by telling Agathe that he’s fallen in love with her. “I bet you say that a lot,” she replies, bluntly sniffing out his bullshit in a way that suggests this Parisian school teacher doesn’t understand how far most artists would go to convince their audience of an emotional truth. “I say it when I mean it,” Tomas counters. “You say it when it works for you,” Agathe volleys back. They’re both right,...
Not long into Ira Sachs’ “Passages” — sometime all too shortly after a restless, self-involved filmmaker (Franz Rogowski) leaves his much softer husband (Ben Whishaw) for the earthy and new woman (Adèle Exarchopoulos) he meets at a dance club after a stressful day of shooting — Tomas launches into a post-coital chat by telling Agathe that he’s fallen in love with her. “I bet you say that a lot,” she replies, bluntly sniffing out his bullshit in a way that suggests this Parisian school teacher doesn’t understand how far most artists would go to convince their audience of an emotional truth. “I say it when I mean it,” Tomas counters. “You say it when it works for you,” Agathe volleys back. They’re both right,...
- 1/23/2023
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
The Berlin Film Festival has unveiled the first titles selected for its Panorama section at the upcoming in-person edition that takes place February 16-26. (Scroll down for the full list)
Among the highlights are Tina Satter’s debut feature Reality starring Euphoria and The White Lotus’ Sydney Sweeney and focusing on the arrest of the American whistle-blower Reality Winner.
Jennifer Reeder is also in with Perpetrator, described as a subversive film that throws conventions to the wind. Kiah McKirnan and Alicia Silverstone star.
Willem Dafoe turns up as an art thief in Vasilis Katsoupis’ Inside. And, Ira Sachs is back with Passages, starring Franz Rogowski, Ben Whishaw and Adèle Exarchopoulous.
Of the 14 films selected, eleven are world premieres.
Here’s the full list announced today
Al Murhaqoon (The Burdened)
by Amr Gamal | with Khaled Hamdan, Abeer Mohammed, Samah Alamrani, Awsam Abdulrahman, Shahd Algonfedy
Yemen / Sudan / Saudi Arabia 2023
Panorama | World Premiere...
Among the highlights are Tina Satter’s debut feature Reality starring Euphoria and The White Lotus’ Sydney Sweeney and focusing on the arrest of the American whistle-blower Reality Winner.
Jennifer Reeder is also in with Perpetrator, described as a subversive film that throws conventions to the wind. Kiah McKirnan and Alicia Silverstone star.
Willem Dafoe turns up as an art thief in Vasilis Katsoupis’ Inside. And, Ira Sachs is back with Passages, starring Franz Rogowski, Ben Whishaw and Adèle Exarchopoulous.
Of the 14 films selected, eleven are world premieres.
Here’s the full list announced today
Al Murhaqoon (The Burdened)
by Amr Gamal | with Khaled Hamdan, Abeer Mohammed, Samah Alamrani, Awsam Abdulrahman, Shahd Algonfedy
Yemen / Sudan / Saudi Arabia 2023
Panorama | World Premiere...
- 12/15/2022
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline Film + TV
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.