Passion (2013)

Oh dear..... Within 60 seconds of watching I drew the clear conclusion that my time was better spent elsewhere. I am totally puzzled as to what BdeP was looking to achieve; I expected the first scene to close with a TV set being turned off, immediately followed by properly scripted actors mocking the car crash/comedy/amateur hour they had been watching. In dismissing the limp interplay between 2 women and a token boyfriend, the proper cast would then make way for the movie to start in earnest.Amazingly, that first scene set the tone for what was to follow - poor acting, terrible scripting, disjointed pace, lack of narrative, absence of character development, weak storytelling and a general mishmash of locations and scenes that left me thinking this laughable excuse for a movie was nothing more than a Director's self indulgence. At the premiere I can only imagine that a severe case of the emperors new clothes had kicked in whereby no-one dare exhale their sharp intakes of breath in order to share their complete unease and disbelief of what was before their eyes.The central premise is a lesbian laced joust between 2 hollow, privileged females, masquerading as a business power-play carried out in an artificial Berlin society which comes across as completely meaningless. Thus develops a plunge into unfaithfulness, murder and a totally predictable ending.The man who gave us Carrie and Carlito's Way is way off beam here, the $20m budget is a gigantic price for a complete stinker.

This film is a joy for lovers of psychological mystery, visual poetry and cinematic rhythm. I know this film is universally derided, also among revered critics, but I feel no shame to say I loved every second of it.Passion is another fine edition to Das kabinet des Dr. De Palma. All the exquisite ingredients to his powerful way of seducing are here. The suspense, the hysteria, the other worldliness of the real world, the camera in a camera,the dream in a dream, the thrilling music, the drama, and the undefinable De Palma Touch.Let yourself be caught of guard. Go see it without prejudice!

It's got an American director and two US stars, so I think we can call this an American film, regardless of the fact that it says French/German production in the credits. With that said, I have to once again make a plea to US film makers to stop remaking European (and Asian) films if they can't make a film as good or better than the original. I appreciate that some directors try to do something creative with the original material, but it still has to have competent direction and acting. The actress playing the head of the firm was awful compared to the original's actress, and the same thing goes for the other lead. DePalma's rewriting of the plot was pretty sad also, although the addition of a lesbian sub-plot worked out alright, but not for dramatic purposes. The fact that Donaggio's score was very well performed once again proved the fact that even an excellent score can't save a bad movie.

Despite being tonally inconsistent and silly at times, it's a (somewhat) welcome return to form for De Palma, even if his Hitchcock-aping doesn't really take effect until the last act. Structurally and tonally, one can divide this movie into three parts: The first is kind of like a dramedy (suggested by the soundtrack), the second is more of a melodrama and the third (and final) act goes into full WTF mode as De Palma pulls every trick in his admittedly small book and tries to get the viewer to question the reality of everything they see. As such, the movie isn't really that effective until this section, with most of the prior dialogue seeming sophomoric and shallow, much like the relationships and characters in the film. Still, this movie is worth watching for that final act. It's style over substance, but it's got quite a sense of style.