Passion (2013)

Brian De Palma is known primarily for his potboiler thrillers. "Passion" is a departure into a more arty, European style in this remake of a French film. The results are uneven, yet very watchable.The most extreme "arty" moment in the film comes at a crucial time when a murder is being committed. Here, the filmmaker juxtaposes scenes from a ballet performance of "The Afternoon of a Faun," based on Claude Debussy's music, with the crime as it is unfolding on a split scene. The overall effect was amateurish and lost the suspenseful build-up to the murder.Another flaw was the clumsy pattern of a character waking up in the middle of a nightmare, which confused the audience as to what was real and what was the dream. The over-reliance on this technique led to a messy narrative structure. What are we to believe at the end? Was the mysterious woman appearing at the funeral Clarissa, the twin sister of Christine? Did Dani actually send the message to the inspector, or was that part of Isabelle's dream like the strangulation of Isabelle by the Clarissa? Setting aside the cavernous plot holes, the character developments were good, as we follow the bitter "cat fight" among Christine, Isabelle, and Dani. Like poor Dirk, we as the viewers follow the action almost in a stupor because it is so bewildering. As the various characters experience their meltdowns in the rivalry at work and in the boudoir, it is nearly impossible to conclude which one of the three women in the most devious.An especially revealing detail is apparent in the name of the corporation in which the three women work: International Image. All three of the women seem preoccupied with the notion of "image," which is their line of work. A central metaphor in the film is the mask that is favorite device for Christine in a personal life that is a variation on "Fifty Shades of Grey." But when the masks slips, each character becomes vulnerable. At that moment, Christine, Isabelle, Dani become extremely dangerous to anyone who crosses their paths.

It's a nice repeat shot. Inspectors or filmmakers will see that this is a slightly altered repetition of an old Filmin. Of course, not as impressive as the original, but a new character joined the director. If I had been watching for the first time, I'm sure I was more impressed, but that's the job again. I can say it's worth watching. The final part is good, although there are not too many corner points. The shooting style and the procession are also beautiful. A tight tension. I would definitely recommend watching the kind fans.GUIDANCE OF THE DIRECTOR: Director Brian De Palma did a good job. It was a return film after a long ride. But I think it's a low quality film compared to its quality. But ultimately De Palma is a good cook. Eat what you cook.

"I used to want to be admired. Now I want to be loved."We can all agree that Brian De Palma directed some of his best films during the 80's and 90's (Scarface, The Untouchables, Carlito's Way, Mission: Impossible, and Body Double) and let us not forget about his 1976 classic horror film Carrie, but it has been nearly two decades since he has made a great film. We can make a case for him that he doesn't nearly direct as much as he used to considering it took him five years to make Passion while in the 80's he directed nine films and five during the 90's. However his latest efforts haven't made much of a splash with critics nor audiences. It may come as a surprise however that Passion has a sort of 80's retro feel to it and that De Palma included some of his classic trademarks like the split screen, long takes with dolly movements, dopplegangers, and several dreamy sequences. Fans of De Palma might enjoy the fact that in Passion he revists these recurring themes, but at the same time he introduces those elements in such way that they feel like a parody of his own work. More than a De Palma film, Passion feels like an attempt from one of his fans to honor his past work with deliberately forced dialogue and over the top performances. It is a B-movie, but one I really had a difficult time enjoying. There are ridiculous amounts of twists that make very little sense and I lost interest in the story pretty quickly. Passion is actually a remake of Alain Corneau's 2010 French film, Crime d'amour (Love Crime), starring Kristin Scott Thomas and Ludivine Sagnier, and that film seems far more appealing than this one. De Palma adapted the screenplay for this remake which stars Rachel McAdams as a manipulative advertising agency boss in Germany named Christine. Her protégé, Isabelle (Noomi Rapace), proves to be very talented when she comes up for a slick advertising campaign for a cell phone company. Executives in the United States are fascinated by the concept she came up with, but when Christine takes credit for her protégé's work things begin to get complicated between them. It doesn't help that Isabelle is having a secret affair with Dirk (Paul Anderson), who happens to be dating Christine. No one is actually who they seem to be in this world and things begin to get out of hand pretty quickly when Christine tries to publicly humiliate Isabelle. Caroline Herfuth also plays a secondary role as Isabelle's assistant with who she is a bit obsessive with.It only took me about ten minutes into the film to lose much of my interest in the film. The acting was over the top and the dialogue extremely forced, and I know that it was intentional but it didn't make for an interesting satire either. Passion is a film that obsesses over its style and forgets about its substance. The long takes with dolly movements are incredibly distracting at times and I didn't feel they served any purpose in the story. The final third act is incredibly dull while trying to be clever layering one twist after another which doesn't make much sense. I honestly didn't find any redeeming quality from Passion and couldn't even enjoy the performances from the talented cast because the story was too painful to get through. http://estebueno10.blogspot.com/

"Passion" is a ridiculous remake of the great French thriller "Crime d'amour". The screenplay uses the same storyline and has minors but significant modifications when compared to the original movie that spoils the movie. The scene of the murder of Christine in the original movie is unbeatable. The police investigation of the evidences is very poor in this remake. The conclusion is awful. The decadent Brian De Palma still uses split screen technique but without any brilliance. The two lead actresses of the original movie, Kristin Scott Thomas and Ludivine Sagnier, are wonderful and their duel is engaging. However, Rachel McAdams never convinces as an executive and looks like a vulgar woman. My vote is two.Title (Brazil): "Passion"