Review: Passing

Image courtesy of Netflix.

Bearing some resemblance to Brit Bennett's excellent 2020 novel, "The Vanishing Half," but also - of course - to the 1929 novel by Nella Larsen upon which it is based, Rebecca Hall's debut directorial effort, "Passing," is a compelling story that switches gears several times before arriving at a hauntingly ambiguous ending. The film shows a decent amount of confidence for a debut feature.

Shot in gorgeous black and white and clocking in at just under 100 minutes, "Passing" tells the story of Irene (Tessa Thompson), the wife of a successful Harlem doctor, Brian (Andre Holland), in the 1920s who also is heavily involved in high society, especially her friendship with a pompous white writer (Bill Camp),  and the Negro Welfare League. 

One day, while sitting in a high-end cafe in Manhattan, she runs into Clare (Ruth Negga), an old high school friend whom she hasn't seen in years. Irene is shocked to notice that Clare is with a white man named John (Alexander Skarsgard), and even more surprised to later learn that Clare has long been passing as white. During a visit to their home, Irene is unsettled at how easily Clare slips into her role around her husband, who is unambiguously racist.

Clare starts showing up unannounced at Irene's door, partly because she's glad to see her old friend, but also because, as she tells Irene, she misses spending time around Black folks. As time goes on, Irene becomes perturbed by Clare's presence, especially after it appears that Brian and Clare have taken up flirting with each other. While Clare formerly inspired pity in Irene, that quickly turns to jealousy and disgust.

There's a fair amount of tension in the film, most notably during a scene in which Irene first meets John and Clare sits there with a blank expression on her face as her husband tells their visitor about how he doesn't like Black people. There's also a series of scenes in which Irene, who believes that she and her family are far removed from white society in Harlem, asks Brian not to continually update the couple's young sons on stories about lynching that pop up in the morning newspaper.

It's an interesting juxtaposition. Irene is physically separated from white people based on where she lives and she doesn't want the horrific actions of white people against Blacks to reach her sons' ears - she tells her husband that they'll have plenty of time when they grow up to learn how awful the world can be. Meanwhile, Clare is now trapped in white society, but longs for an escape back to a world she once knew. Hence, her frequent arrivals on Irene's doorstep.

Much will be made about the film's ambiguous ending. An action takes place, and by the way the film is shot it's hard to tell who's responsible for the aftermath of that action. Three possibilities exist, and it's easy enough to see why any three of them could have occurred. It's a fitting ending to a story centering around an enigma - Clare - and the woman who gets sucked into her orbit. 

As a directorial debut, "Passing" shows a lot of promise for Hall as a director. Much like Bennett's novel, which I read earlier this year, it's an interesting take on a person who attempts to straddle two worlds - and the inevitable tragedies that result from such a thing.