Passages
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Storyline
The whole story, ending included.
A gay filmmaker starts an affair with a woman and tries to keep his husband too; rated NC-17 and released unrated in protest.
Tomas, a German film director living in Paris, has just finished shooting his new film. At the wrap party his husband, Martin, an English printer, will not dance with him, so Tomas dances with Agathe, a young primary-school teacher, goes back to her flat and sleeps with her. The next morning he tells Martin, almost cheerfully, that he has had sex with a woman and felt something he had not felt in a long time. Martin assures him they will get through it. Tomas keeps seeing Agathe. At their country house the two men argue: Tomas finds their marriage too comfortable, and Martin tells him he is in love with her.
Back in Paris, Martin meets Amad, a novelist, and Tomas is rude to him. Tomas spends another night with Agathe, who sings him a lullaby from her childhood, and tells her he loves her. He moves in with her. Martin puts the country house up for sale and begins seeing Amad; Tomas walks in on them with his old key and storms out, and Martin asks for the key back. Returning it, Tomas talks his way into staying the night, and into Martin's bed. In the morning he tells him that Agathe is pregnant.
At dinner with Agathe's parents Tomas is late, defensive and hostile. Then he goes back to Martin, proposes that they raise the baby together as a family, and says he misses being with a man. Martin leaves Amad, who warns him that neither of them will survive this. On a weekend in the country with friends, Agathe lies listening to the two men having sex in the next room; later Tomas climbs into her bed and holds her while she cries. She cuts him off. Over lunch she tells Martin that she has had an abortion: she wants a family, but among the three of them she would have disappeared. Martin ends things with Tomas, refuses to go with him to Venice and tells him never to contact him again. Tomas goes to Agathe's classroom to beg her to come instead; she refuses. He rides away through the city on his bicycle, going nowhere in particular.
Starring
Franz Rogowskias Tomas Freiburg
A German film director in Paris who starts an affair with a young woman and wants to keep his husband too.
Tomas Freiburg’s story
Tomas has just finished a film, and at the wrap party, when Martin will not dance, he dances with Agathe and goes home with her. He tells Martin the next morning, almost cheerfully, and calls their marriage too comfortable. He moves in with Agathe and says he loves her, but cannot bear Martin's new lover, Amad: he talks his way back into Martin's bed and announces that Agathe is pregnant. Late and hostile at dinner with her parents, he asks Martin to raise the baby with him. At a weekend in the country he sleeps with Martin within Agathe's hearing, then holds her while she cries. She cuts him off. Martin, told of her abortion, leaves him and refuses Venice; Agathe refuses him too. He rides off through Paris on his bicycle, going nowhere in particular.
Ben Whishawas Martin
Tomas's English husband, a printer, who keeps taking him back until he no longer can.
Martin’s story
Martin will not dance at his husband's wrap party, and next morning hears that Tomas has slept with a woman. He says they will get through it. At their country house he names what Tomas will not: that he is in love with Agathe. When Tomas moves out, Martin puts the house up for sale, begins seeing Amad and asks for his keys back after Tomas walks in on them. Then Tomas talks his way into his bed and tells him Agathe is pregnant; when Tomas later proposes that they raise the child together, Martin leaves Amad, who warns that neither of them will survive it. Over lunch, Agathe tells him she has had an abortion. He holds back tears. At home he ends it with Tomas, refuses Venice and tells him never to contact him again.
Adèle Exarchopoulosas Agathe
A young primary-school teacher who falls for Tomas and becomes pregnant by him.
Agathe’s story
Agathe dances with Tomas at a wrap party and takes him home. She keeps seeing him, sings him a lullaby from her childhood, hears him say he loves her and lets him move in. She becomes pregnant; at dinner with her parents he arrives late and turns hostile, and then he goes back to Martin to propose that the three of them raise the child. On a weekend in the country she lies listening to the two men having sex in the next room, and later cries while Tomas holds her. She cuts him off. Over lunch she tells Martin that she has had an abortion: she wants a family, but among the three of them she would have disappeared. When Tomas comes to her classroom to beg her to go to Venice with him, she refuses.
Erwan Kepoa Faléas Amad
A novelist who begins a relationship with Martin after Tomas moves out.
Why it matters
Passages is a study of a man who takes what he wants and calls it feeling. Tomas is magnetic and selfish in equal measure, and the film watches what his appetite costs the two people who love him: a husband who keeps taking him back, and a young woman who understands, in the end, that she would vanish inside their marriage. Its subject is not bisexuality as a problem but desire without responsibility, the particular damage done by someone who treats every relationship as a scene he is directing. Critics compared Tomas to Rainer Werner Fassbinder. In the United States the film was rated NC-17, which Ira Sachs called a form of cultural censorship of LGBT imagery, and Mubi released it unrated. What it leaves is the question Agathe answers for herself: when to stop being a part of someone else's story.