The latest film from visionary director Brian De Palma didn’t get a very wide release, nor did it receive strong reviews. New to DVD and Blu-ray this week, Passion begins so understated and conventionally filmed that it will initially disappoint the director’s fans. But there is a reason for this approach. Patient viewers who endure the more austerely captured beginning will see events become more sensational as the story progresses. By the close, it satisfies as a minor but enjoyably twisty and loopy thriller.
Christine (Rachel Adams) is a vicious, cold-hearted executive at a Berlin advertising firm whose success comes from skillfully manipulating those around her. When shy creative team member Isabelle (Noomi Repace) comes up with an effective commercial campaign, Christine’s immediate instinct is take credit for it and rationalize her actions to the understandably upset employee. Feeling like a puppet, Isabelle engages Christine a chain of escalating events inside and outside the office that eventually lead to violence.
Based upon the French film Crime d’amour, this is a much smaller and more restrained suspense flick than one would expect from the creator of Dressed to Kill, Blow Out, Body Double and Femme Fatale. At least it’s obvious why the first section of the story is lensed so conservatively. It’s an icy work environment and the photography is appropriately crisp and locked off, instead of emphasizing the director’s typically flamboyant tendencies. Still, it does feel a bit too controlled early on and it takes quite some time before the story really gets going. It isn’t until the film’s second half that hot blooded emotions and actions jolt the film to life and change the visual style.
As the characters become more unhinged, so does the lighting and camerawork. All of a sudden, De Palma-esque imagery begins creeping in. There’s some impressive film-noir style lighting, the angles become more askew and the camera moves more fluidly with some elaborate steadicam takes. As expected, this includes a split screen sequence that culminates by contrasting a kiss and a violent attack. And there are a few other interesting twists. A revenge fantasy plays out in dream form and soon dreams themselves start to fuse with realty; at times it becomes uncertain whether what is occurring is actually real. But of course, that’s all part of the fun.
The stars are both enjoyable in their roles and carry viewers through the slow first half. Adams seems to relish humiliating those under her and Repace gets the opportunity to turn from sweet and put-upon employee to a more desperate and equally manipulative figure. They’re having a lot of fun on screen together and it’s refreshing to see two strong female characters carry a film.
Finally, for fans of the director, there are a some nifty visual signifiers and references to past films. Passion does take a bit too long to escalate into deliciously melodramatic heights and as a result isn’t one of the strongest films in De Palma oeuvre. However, it is an interesting and ultimately entertaining picture that got far too harsh a reaction from critics upon its original release.