Alain E
One of the best DePalma movies and overall excellent. Very strong color photography and framing. My only objection is the split sceen sequence with the ballet. Appropriate music. Obviously not addressed to the average spectator or critic. Very interesting, that Reservoir Dogs for example is universally acclaimed and this one totally condemned.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
12/08/24
Full Review
Ola G
Christine Stanford (Rachel McAdams), an American advertising executive in Germany, is working with her protégé Isabelle James (Noomi Rapace) on an ad campaign for a new smartphone. Isabelle, secretly having an affair with Christine's boyfriend Dirk (Paul Anderson), comes up with a well-received marketing idea. When Christine claims it as her own, Isabelle is disappointed but reconciles with her boss when Christine shares the story of how her twin sister died. At the urging of her loyal assistant Dani, Isabelle uploads a self-made version of her ad to the web, where it goes viral. Angered at the attention Isabelle has received, Christine vows revenge, taunting her with a sex tape which Isabelle had made with Dirk. After an angry Isabelle crashes her car in the company's parking garage, Christine shares the security footage with the rest of the company, humiliating Isabelle who spirals into a depression and begins abusing pills. Christine tries to get Dani fired and then threatens Isabelle with a letter she typed on Isabelle's computer vowing revenge. After Christine is found dead, Isabelle is arrested and confesses to the murder while in a drug-induced stupor. Based on her confessions, the revenge note, and fibers matching a scarf which Isabelle was seen wearing, the police charge her with murder. However, they drop the charges when they discover someone who saw Isabelle at the ballet that night and when Dani discovers Isabelle's scarf, undamaged, in her apartment. The police learn that Dirk, who was in the neighbourhood at the time of the murder, had been embezzling money and Christine discovered this. When they find a bloody scarf in his car they arrest him...
Rotten Tomatoes critical consensus reads, "For better as well as worse, Passion is vintage Brian De Palma sexploitation — although with a storyline sillier than most, it fails to generate as much heat as his steamiest work." Robert Bell of Exclaim! rated the film 8 out of 10, writing: "It's just unfortunate that those unfamiliar with the director's work will have absolutely no context for the abstract and oblique tonal shifts or the references, leaving them to dismiss the film as terrible." Eric Kohn of IndieWire gave the film a "B" grade[18] and Alan Pyke of Tiny Mix Tapes gave the film 2.5 out of 5 stars. Peter Sobczynski of Roger Ebert.com gave the film a four-star rating, calling it "a spellbinding thriller", and DePalma "one of the great seducers of cinema". Neil Young of The Hollywood Reporter reviewed the film negatively, commenting that "the impression is that De Palma is indulging himself with homages to his own Hitchcockian greatest hits, with results that veer close to self-parody on occasion and emphasize just how far this once-outstanding director's creative star has plummeted." Robert Abele of the Los Angeles Times called the film a "sleekly trashy misfire". Ed Gonzalez of Slant Magazine gave the film 3 out of 4 stars. Bruce DeMara of Toronto Star gave the film 1.5 out of 4 stars, describing the film as "a pale imitation of the auteur's best work". Brian Clark of Twitch Film published a mixed review, while Ben Sachs of Chicago Reader wrote a favorable review, noting that De Palma interweaves themes such as corporate power, advertising, sexual desire, sadomasochistic relationships, and longing for love with a musicality comparable to his visual style. Calum Marsh of Esquire writes: "What makes Passion such a distinctively modern take on the now-antiquated erotic thriller is that it has a keen sense of humor about itself". (Via Wikipedia)
It pains me to say that this is truly one terrible self-parody of a film from the great Brian De Palma. The man who gave us fantastic films such as "Phantom of the Paradise" (1974), "Carrie" (1976), "Dressed to Kill" (1980), "Blow Out" (1981), "Scarface" (1983), "Body Double" (1984), "The Untouchables" (1987), "Casualties of War" (1989), "Carlito's Way" (1993) and "Mission: Impossible" (1996). The master of the suspense, crime and psychological thriller genres. The story is borderline silly, there's absolutely no chemistry between the leads, there's no suspense, no erotic vibe and no feeling of a classic spellbinding de Palma thriller. The acting is truly poor and Rachel McAdams (a clear favourite of mine) is nowhere near her normal potential and Noomi Rapace is just bad from all angles. Everything with this production makes it look like a crappy TV or straight to video production. "Passion" is a sad experience, however I had the feeling that this would be exactly that...
Rated 2/5 Stars •
Rated 2 out of 5 stars
11/10/24
Full Review
mark g
Rachel McAdams was very good. Stylish direction. Very DePalma. Not sure why so much negativity.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
08/01/24
Full Review
Kevin P
Unless you have a goal to watch everything that Rachel McAdams does, this is an easy pass. Character development is nonexistent which may be why the events in the film make no sense.
Rated 1.5/5 Stars •
Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars
01/31/24
Full Review
donnie m
WORST acting in the history of acting
Rated 0.5/5 Stars •
Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars
12/09/23
Full Review
Elene N
I just had to watch it for a minute or two in order to see that it was rotten🧐
Rated 1/5 Stars •
Rated 1 out of 5 stars
12/02/23
Full Review
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