Passion (2012)

Director:

Brian De Palma

Writers:

Brian De Palma (written by)
Natalie Carter (film "Crime d'amour") ...
(more)

Release Date:

13 February 2013 (Belgium)

Genre:

Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Plot:

The rivalry between the manipulative boss of an advertising agency and her talented protégée escalates from stealing credit to public humiliation to murder. |

Plot Keywords:

Remake Of French Film | Erotica

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Rachel McAdams	...	Christine
Noomi Rapace	...	Isabelle James
Karoline Herfurth	...	Dani
Paul Anderson	...	Dirk
Rainer Bock	...	Inspector Bach
Benjamin Sadler	...	Prosecutor
Michael Rotschopf	...	Isabelle's Lawyer
Max Urlacher	...	Jack
Dominic Raacke	...	J.J. Koch
Trystan W. Putter	...	Eric (as Trystan Pütter)
Patrick Heyn	...	Manager #1
Ian T. Dickinson	...	Detective #2
Melissa Holroyd	...	Beate
Peer Martiny	...	Maitre D'
Frank Witter	...	Usher Theatre
Jörg Pintsch	...	Georg
Katrin Pollitt	...	Prison Guard
Gernot Alwin Kunert	...	Lab Technician (as Gernot Kunert)
Polina Semionova	...	Dancer
Ibrahim Öykü Önal	...	Dancer
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Leila Rozario	...	Woman in Elevator
Alexander Yassin	...	Concierge

Directed by
Brian De Palma

Writing credits
Brian De Palma		(written by)
Natalie Carter		(film "Crime d'amour") &
Alain Corneau		(film "Crime d'amour")
Natalie Carter		(additional dialogue)

Produced by
Sylvie Barthet	....	line producer
Saïd Ben Saïd	....	producer
Alfred Hürmer	....	co-producer

Original Music by
Pino Donaggio

Cinematography by
José Luis Alcaine

Film Editing by
François Gédigier

Casting by
Anja Dihrberg

Production Design by
Cornelia Ott

Art Direction by
Astrid Poeschke

Set Decoration by
Ute Bergk

Costume Design by
Karen Muller Serreau

Makeup Department
Tamar Aviv	....	special makeup effects artist
Dana Kalder	....	additional makeup artist
Göran Lundström	....	mask sculptor: Twilight Creations
Thi Thanh Tu Nguyen	....	personal makeup artist: Rachel McAdams
Björn Rehbein	....	makeup department head
Emilia Seifert	....	makeup artist
Jörn Seifert	....	special makeup effects artist

Production Management
Miki Emmrich	....	production manager
Abraham Goldblat	....	post-production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Tobias Asam	....	third assistant director
Kilian Bold	....	trainee assistant director (as Kilian Hebold)

Art Department
Roman Berger	....	standby carpenter
Henning Brehm	....	graphic designer
Patrick Herzberg	....	assistant art director
Patrick Herzberg	....	stand-by art director
Sonja Kirch	....	art department coordinator
Carolin Langenbahn	....	assistant set decorator
Nadin Meyer	....	construction buyer
Marco Pressler	....	construction manager
Till Sennhenn	....	stand-by propman
Joey Weber	....	additional set decoration buyer

Sound Department
Hortense Bailly	....	assistant dialogue editor: sound
Niels Barletta	....	sound mastering engineer
Damien Bera	....	sound re-recording mixer
Mélanie Blouin	....	foley editor
Katia Boutin	....	dialogue editor
Nicolas Cantin	....	sound mixer
Jean-Paul Hurier	....	sound re-recording mixer
Ron Klober	....	boom operator
Gréggory Poncelet	....	technical supervisor
Marco Streccioni	....	sound engineer
Matthieu Tertois	....	sound mix technician

Special Effects by
Till Hertrich	....	special effects foreman
Michael Rudnik	....	special effects technician

Visual Effects by
Estelle Chesneau	....	digital compositor
Olivier Debert	....	flame artist
Jeremy Guetta	....	scanner operator
Marc Latil	....	digital artist
Thibault Martegani	....	digital compositor
Frederic Moreau	....	visual effects designer
Sarah Moreau	....	visual effects producer
Fred Roz	....	titles
Mikael Tanguy	....	visual effects supervisor
Olivier Veau	....	digital compositor

Stunts
Janine Theisen	....	stunt double

Camera and Electrical Department
Juan José Alcaide	....	senior lighting technician
Christian Almesberger	....	camera operator: "b" camera
Christian Almesberger	....	first assistant camera: "a" camera
Guy Ferrandis	....	still photographer
Oliver Haas	....	best boy lighting
Dietmar Haupt	....	rigging gaffer
Thomas Hübener	....	crane/remote head technician
Daniel Jopp	....	lighting technician
Glenn König	....	key grip
Philipp Lange	....	lighting technician
Gero Neumann	....	second assistant camera
Helmut Prein	....	gaffer
Axel Scholz	....	lighting technician
Clemens Szelies	....	video operator
Uwe Zegnotat	....	camera loader

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Theresa Anna Luther	....	set costumer
Emmanuelle Pertus	....	wardrobe supervisor
Barbara Schramm	....	costume assistant
Lisa Spengler	....	wardrobe assistant
Jana Witte	....	costume buyer

Editorial Department
Serge Anthony	....	colorist
Ana Antunes	....	post-production assistant
Valentin Durning	....	second assistant editor
Charles Fréville	....	additional colorist
Anita Roth	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Gabriele Conti	....	music recording and mixing assistant
Gabriele Conti	....	score engineering assistant
Angelo Giovagnoli	....	orchestra coordinator
Elise Luguern	....	music supervisor
Natale Massara	....	conductor
Marco Streccioni	....	music recorded and mixed by
Marco Streccioni	....	score engineer & mixer

Transportation Department
Florian Haeger	....	transportation captain
Martin Kuschan	....	transportation consultant

Other crew
Milena Bomalick	....	production secretary
Gero Brugmann	....	legal services: production financing
Sylke Ferber	....	assistant production co-ordinator
Klaus Große Darrelmann	....	location manager
Vera Maria Jung	....	assistant production secretary
Thomas Lauterkorn	....	location scout
Paul Meyer-Gerlt	....	production accountant
Kevin Nerlich	....	assistant set manager
Myriam Rak	....	legal clearance supervisor
Steve Sauthoff	....	set manager
Bashaar Wahab	....	location scout
Felix Witte	....	assistant set manager
Christian Wöltche	....	assistant production accountant
Martin Zillger	....	location scout

Production Companies

• SBS Productions (co-production)
• Integral Film (co-production)
• France 2 Cinéma (co-production)
• Canal+ (participation)
• France Télévision (participation)
• Ciné+ (participation)
• Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg (participation)
• Deutsche Filmförderfonds (DFFF) (participation)
• Wild Bunch (participation)

Distributors

• ARP Sélection (2013) (France) (theatrical)
• Broadmedia Studios (2013) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Distribution Company (2013) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• Entertainment One (2013) (Canada) (theatrical)
• Entertainment One (2013) (USA) (theatrical)
• Lumière (2013) (Belgium) (theatrical)
• Lumière (2013) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Village Films (2013) (Greece) (theatrical)
• Ascot Elite Entertainment Group (2013) (Germany) (all media)
• Ascot Elite Entertainment Group (2013) (Switzerland) (all media)
• Filmes Lusomundo (2013) (Portugal) (all media)
• Front Row Filmed Entertainment (2013) (United Arab Emirates) (all media) (Middle East, North Africa & Iran)
• IPA Asia Pacific (2013) (Thailand) (all media)
• Pancinema (2013) (Korea) (all media)
• Teleview International (2013) (Lebanon) (all media) (Middle East)

Special Effects

• Def2shoot (visual effects company)

Other Companies

• CNSO Studios  Czech National Symphony Orchestra, Recording Studio
• Czech National Symphony Orchestra  Czech National Symphony Orchestra, CNSO Studios
• Dolby Laboratories  sound mix
• Mecon Media Concept  extra payroll
• Studio Line  ADR Studio
• Sud Ovest Records  music production

Also Known As:

MPAA:

Rated R for sexual content, language and some violence

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

Germany | France

Language:

English | German

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Certification:

USA:R | Canada:18A | Netherlands:16 | France:U (with warning) | Singapore:M18 | Hong Kong:IIB

Filming Locations:

Germany

Company:

SBS Productions

Trivia:

Dominic Cooper was originally cast but he dropped out. Paul Anderson replaced him.

Movie Connections:

Remake of Love Crime (2010)

Disappointing thriller, especially coming from a director with a track record in this line of work

I saw this film at the Ghent filmfestival 2012, as part of the official closing event. Expectations rise high when festival programmers deem this film worthy material to serve as a starter for such an occasion. It has to be excellent, or at least controversial, to work as a conversation piece during the inevitable reception party after the screening. Also, this director has a track record in thrillers to keep up. All of that said, a disappointment can materialize easily, be it due to festival fatigue (seen 40 films in 12 days), or just an ambitious but failed product, or a director trusting too much on his routine, or all the above combined.

Whatever the cause of my disappointment, I refrained from my initial temptation to score a 1 (lowest) for the audience award when leaving the theater, and made it a 2 to compensate for a few (but not many) things that struck me as bright ideas.

My first problem lies in the scenario, letting us wait half an hour for an interesting plot coming along in the form of a fraud scheme that was about to be unveiled. That extra story line was needed badly at that point. It gave others than the two main woman characters a reason for having an active role in the events that followed, other than just being entourage.

Prior to that, we saw an ambitious woman (Christine), relatively high in the food chain, claiming to be the author of a successful ad that in fact was created by her subordinate (Isabelle). Of course, I don't want to defend such impeccable behavior, but it happens on a daily basis in the corporate world. You can accept it a few times as a fact of life, or decide it happened too often and that the time has come to move on and leave. Neither is it serious plot material that Isabelle gets laid by Christine's lover, nor Christine's sexual habits, nor her collection of sex toys.

A more interesting twist, however, was the story that Christine told about her identical twin sister. She considers herself the cause of her premature death in a traffic accident. She says that the dreadful event still haunts her. Others insist that the twin sister is invented as an excuse for her wrongdoings. An indirect "proof" that the twin sister, imaginary or not, has some very special role in Christine's mind, can be derived from the mask that looks exactly like her, and that her lover has to wear while having sex.

My second problem with the scenario is that the tension dropped to zero more than once. That should not happen in a film marked "thriller", created by an experienced director with a track record in this line of work. We are not sufficiently compensated with the turmoil of things that happen in the last half hour, all of which was far too condensed for the average viewer (like me) to dutifully absorb and thus appreciate. With some more attention for how to entertain the audience, I think that the scenes deserved some rearrangement, in order to spread the events better over the allotted time.

The announcement in the festival brochure labeled this film as an "erotic thriller" (see WikiPedia for a definition and a list of notable examples). Indeed, we observe a lot of things happening that bear some relationship or other with sex, love, erotic plays, even all of those mixed together. But can either one of these be construed as a driving force in the dramatic events we see?? Maybe only one at the end of the film (no details here, to prevent spoilers). But the rest comes down to competition on a business level, in other words: survival of the fittest.

I can go on and point out some other things I did not like about this film. But I don't think it adds very much to above description of my viewer experience. This is certainly not a masterpiece, and we know the director can do much better.