lavatch 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.

adonis98-743-186503 The rivalry between the manipulative boss of an advertising agency and her talented protégée escalates from stealing credit to public humiliation to murder. Three minutes into this film were enough to be honest, the acting by Noomi Rapace was all over the place, the way that the movie starts it's stupid especially the one where a chick licks another chick. Then there's this video that they try to do with the whole phone thing and that was even more retarded. What makes this even more sad it's the fact that it was directed by the same man who directed the first Mission Impossible movie starring Tom Cruise. Personally if you like movies and any of this actors do yourself a favor and don't see it. (0/10)

morrison-dylan-fan Whilst searching round on the BBC iPlayer for the Nordic Noir series Follow The Money,I found out that the BBC had recently shown auteur film maker Brian De Palma's latest Neo-Noir.With the movie starring the original Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,I decided that it was time to find out how passionate passion could get.The plot:Running a leading ad agency, Christine Stanford finds Isabelle James designs to stand out from the pack. Beginning to work closer with Standford begins to passionately charm James. Initially supporting James ideas,Standford changes her mind when she discovers that James has secretly slept with her lover Dirk Harriman.As Stanford reveals her fangs and tries to bully James out of the business,James starts to investigate Stanford's relationship with Harriman,and begins to make her own passion play.View on the film:Rolling the opening with a shot of an Apple Mac,co-writer/(along with Natalie Carter) director Brian De Palma cakes the title in decadent glamour,where all the "perfect" advert images and shiny tech are a mask for the decay laying underneath.Backed by an operatic score from Pino Donaggio,De Palma and cinematographer José Luis Alcaine reflect Neo-Noir low-lighting with bitter dark comedy.Sliding spilt-screens and extreme close-ups across the canvas, Da Palma gives the title a surprisingly playful atmosphere,due to each deadly turn James and Stanford take in their bitter feud allowing Da Palma to twist homages of his past works onto the screen.Inspired by the French Film Noir Crime d'amour, (which I've sadly not seen yet) the screenplay by De Palma & Natalie Carter gloriously threads a peculiar "Women's Picture" with crooked Neo-Noir teeth.Breaking into off-beat dream sequences,De Palma and Carter give James and Standford a soft shell which shatters into brittle Neo- Noir pieces as Standford's attempts to get revenge on James unveil a frosty Femme Fatale dame.Looking absolutely dazzling in the long lone shadows and 50's-style clothes, Rachel McAdams gives a great performance as Christine Stanford,with McAdams peeling away Stanford's elegant image to fully display her acid tongue,femme fatale sting.Pushed around by everyone In sight, Noomi Rapace gives an fantastic performance as Isabelle James,thanks to Rapace giving James a fragility which hardens into a Noir shield of rage,as James reveals her passion.

tjmackey1432 Not too sure where to begin on this one. Once you get into the second half of the film you can really start to feel the DePalma aspects kick into gear. The camera-work is great as is expected. The only problem is that all of the split/screen and POV shots have already been done before and done better by DePalma himself nonetheless. Even the film itself is basically another variation of many of DePalma's earlier works, and again the downside to this is that he has done nearly everything in this film so much better in the past that it makes it even harder to appreciate any of the positive aspects of this film. Also doesn't help that the first half of the film is almost un-watchable in every way. Bad acting, bad writing, bad lighting, bad movie. With all of that said I am still a sucker for any and all of the old DePalma camera tricks and will always enjoy them even if I can't enjoy the rest of the film.