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, emotionally nuanced performances, Sachs has created a breathtakingly intimate and insightful drama exploring the complexities, contradictions, and cruelties of love and longing.

For in-depth thoughts on Passages, please see my colleague Brandon Lewis’s review from its original theatrical release here.

Video Quality

Passages comes to Blu-Ray in a 1080p presentation featuring its original 1.66:1 aspect ratio which brings this material to life admirably. This is a visually intimate film that gives its digital photography a very textured appearance that evokes a classic appearance. While the textural gains are not in line with what you get from organic film, the aesthetic does notably benefit the narrative. The transfer maintains a consistent look where subtle elements of the clothing and production design can come through.

The film allows for splashes of colors when it comes to some of the outfits and dazzling lighting, especially. The overall color grade is slightly cool which the presentation represents accurately. The highlights are handled beautifully, along with the deep blacks that do not appear to suffer from any compression artifacts and only the smallest amount of banding. The skin tones look very detailed and natural all around. This presentation is a really good effort from Mubi.

Audio Quality

The Blu-Ray disc comes with both a DTS-HD 5.1 and 2.0 Master Audio track in the original mixture of English and French that brings this world to rich life. Dialogue comes through clearly without ever being overwhelmed by the sound effects or the score. The sound design is pleasantly dynamic with all elements positioned just perfectly in the mix. The environmental effects come alive even in the more straightforward domestic moments for a fully three-dimensional soundscape. This is not an action-heavy film by any stretch of the imagination, but activity in the low end is formidable when it comes to things like pulsing music. The film uses music to great effect as it fills the room with consistent fidelity. This is a stellar release that brings the movie to life in an unparalleled way. There are optional English and English SDH subtitles provided.

Special Features

Q&A with Director Ira Sachs and Franz Rogowski: A 21-minute interview with the director and star in which they discuss the nature of chemistry, the trust of the actors placed in Ira Sachs, finding the looks of each character, how the performers influenced the characters, the importance of the Parisian setting, and much more that is well worth a listen.

Digital Lookbook: A minute-and-a-half collection of stills from the press kit is provided here that you can pause and read if you want to explore any page further.

Final Thoughts

Passages is a palpable narrative that is handled with deft precision by the great Ira Sachs. The characters are not often easy to love, but the performers keep you invested in their toxic journey in hopes of gaining some real insight into their flavor of pathology. How this movie portrays intimacy is downright jarring in the best way. Not every narrative thread comes together perfectly, but this one rewards you if you can withstand some of the challenging characters. Mubi has released a Blu-Ray featuring a fantastic A/V presentation and a great assortment of special features. If you are a fan of the talent involved or want finely crafted queer cinema, give this a whirl. Recommended

Passages is currently available to purchase on Blu-Ray, DVD, and Digital.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: Mubi has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.