Review of Passion (2013) by Aaron F — 01 Sep 2013

Never capitalizing off its strong, power-driven leads, Brian De Palma's "Passion" is anything but passionate. Remaining surface level for its entire run-time, not only can the film not hold a tone, but often falls into a parody of itself.

Part office thriller, part crime drama, part halfhearted expose on sexuality, De Palma fails to ever actually come up with a point. As Christine (Rachel McAdams) and Isabelle (Noomi Rapace) jockey for power within their company, getting close to one another and then pushing each other away, the film rarely holds focus long enough for the audience to care or even grasp what the motives are for the characters.

At times convoluting the story with unnecessary plot points, its a surprise that the film never caves in on itself. By the time the film ends, we're miles away from where we started with no idea how or why we got there.

Based off the 2010 film "Love Crime" directed by Alain Corneau, I'd be interested to see whether that does a better job portraying its plot. How a film starring such gorgeous and talented actresses like McAdams and Rapace could drop the ball so far and especially from a director with such a history, I will never know, but "Passion" fails to live up to the bar set by classic like "Scarface" and "The Untouchables" and even fails to live up to anything remotely resembling a thriller.