Brian De Palma's Passion tells the story of Isabel, an up-and-coming advertising executive, who works under the powerful and manipulative, Christine. With both Isabel and Christine being extremely ambitious their seemingly friendly rivalry becomes a deadly power struggle which escalates from public humiliation to murder. A remake of the French Film 'Love Crimes', Brian De Palma's Passion pales in comparison due to its miscast leads and lack of subtlety. Rachel McAdams is terribly miscast as Christine, the hard-boiled ad executive, delivering a one-note performance. She lacks the understated devious nature of Christine which Kristen Stewart Thomas pulled off so well. The narrative of Passion doesn't feel nearly as organic as its predecessor with plot point after plot point feeling merely the means to and end. It's almost as if De Palma was simply enthralled with the murder mystery aspect which envelopes the last third of the film, briskly going through the motions to get to the fun part. This would also explain why the murder aspect of the film is by far its most impressive segment, when De Palma really ramps up his signature style. De Palma's camerawork is certainly the highlight, using lots of expressionistic devices to create an effective atmosphere. He uses some nice camera angles that really give off a voyeuristic feel seemingly emulating the various security cameras which could be found around an office. I also liked his use of shadows during certain scenes which elevate the tension considerably, particularly during the finale. While Love Crimes felt plausible, a realistic nightmare, De Palma's Passion feels far more exaggerated and almost supernatural, painting a fantasy of violence, sex and murder with a narrative is surprisingly dull. 5.5/10
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AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
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