Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows Shop News Showtimes

Passion

R 1982 1h 27m Comedy Drama List
63% Tomatometer 8 Reviews 62% Popcornmeter 500+ Ratings
An exacting filmmaker (Jerzy Radziwiłowicz) deals with producers and other obstacles while making a documentary about light and image.

Critics Reviews

View All (8) Critics Reviews
Vincent Canby New York Times Mr. Godard has made a funny, fractured, totally self-absorbed movie, without a real story, about the making of a movie that has no real story. Rated: 3.5/5 May 20, 2003 Full Review Justine Smith Vague Visages Although the film dredges at points, the overall experience has an air of celebration as Godard pulls together both theory and poetry, showcasing that pleasure and estrangement are not antithetical. Jun 6, 2024 Full Review Diego Galán El Pais (Spain) Passion is disconcerting. [Full Review in Spanish] Aug 28, 2019 Full Review Felix Gonzalez Jr. DVD Review In spite of its best intentions, the film is a frustrating, even challenging, but ultimately empty experience. Feb 14, 2008 Full Review TV Guide A superb film with more narrative than one usually expects from Godard and a surprising amount of humor. Rated: 3.5/4 Aug 29, 2006 Full Review Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com Rated: 4/5 Jun 19, 2005 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (36) audience reviews
Audience Member One of my favorite movies by my God of Film: the great Jean-Luc Godard. A must see. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/23/23 Full Review Audience Member This is extraordinary. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/25/23 Full Review Audience Member Instead of viewing three different films in three days, I ended up watching Jean-Luc Godard's "Passion" three times. As expected, it is similar in style to his other later works, such as "Film Socialisme," "Notre Musique," and "In Praise of Love." It stars Isabelle Huppert in an almost unrecognizable, yet brilliant role. I did not even realize it was her the first time I saw the film. "Passion" made in 1982 marked Godard's reunion with cinematographer Raoul Coutard, whom he worked last in the masterpiece "Week End." The film is about a picture called (same title) "Passion" being in the process of direction on a small soundstage by Jerzey, which has no story; this is making the Italian producers apprehensive, however Jerzy says that he cannot write a story until he has lived it. I am unsure about the film's greatness; however it is an extremely satisfying work. I would put it among his second-tier works ("Contempt," "Band of Outsiders"), which are still very good films. I obviously picked up a lot more observations after viewing it three times, there are certain scenes that I completely have no clue of, and there are sequences that I can tell Godard's trying to tell something, however I cannot put my finger on it. At times it can be frustrating, but I was incredibly fascinated even with what I did not grasp. The film within has duplication of a number of masterpieces by artists such as Rembrandt, Delacroix, etc., as "living" paintings, which was a pleasure to see! There are some beautiful images in this film, accompanied by music of Mozart, Beethoven, and others, plus several strange or funny scenes also with references to labor and love. In one scene, Jerzey says that "Maybe it's not that important to understand. It's enough just to take." And, I think this is what I tried to do with Godard's "Passion." Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/02/23 Full Review Audience Member for the hardcore JLG fan only. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/14/23 Full Review Audience Member Despite all the wonderful Godardian aphorisms, formulations, philosophies and experimentality, the film is way too speculative. Personally, I don't like films about film sets. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/01/23 Full Review Audience Member I use the word "interesting" a lot (way too often) in my reviews. And Passion is interesting. Godard draws some parallels between love and work, comments on the plight of workers (there are repeated allusions to the Solidarnosc movement in Poland) and makes an 8 1/2 type of self-referential film about filmmaking. However, "interesting" doesn't necessarily mean "good", and for every scene that raises your interest (and there are a few very good ones), there's another one to chase it away. It's a relentlessly messy work, and although I do respect Godard's willingness to make movies with utter disregard for his audience, it's not always too fun to be part of that audience. A lot of this shit is really irritating or really dull, even when it does make sense. Also, it's perfectly fine to make a movie without a story, but when you're constantly telling the audience there's no story you're just a pompous asshole. Raoul Coutard's photography was rather nice, though. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/17/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Passion

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW

Cast & Crew

Movie Info

Synopsis An exacting filmmaker (Jerzy Radziwiłowicz) deals with producers and other obstacles while making a documentary about light and image.
Director
Jean-Luc Godard
Producer
Armand Barbault, Martine Marignac, Catherine Lapoujade
Production Co
United Artists
Rating
R
Genre
Comedy, Drama
Original Language
French (France)
Runtime
1h 27m