Synopsis
The rivalry between the manipulative boss of an advertising agency and her talented protégée escalates from stealing credit to public humiliation to murder.
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Cast
- Rachel McAdamsChristine Stanford
- Noomi RapaceIsabelle James
- Karoline HerfurthDani Wirth
- Paul AndersonDirk Harriman
- Dominic RaackeJ.J. Koch
- Rainer BockInspector Bach
- Benjamin SadlerProsecutor
- Michael RotschopfAttorney Isabelle
- Max UrlacherRolf
- Jörg PintschMark
- 100
RogerEbert.com
Brian De Palma is one of the great seducers of the cinema, and he proves it with Passion, a spellbinding thriller. - 75
Slant Magazine
Passion is a serpentine, gorgeously orchestrated gathering of all of De Palma's pet themes and conceits, a symphony of giddy terror where people perpetually hide behind masks, both literal and figurative. - 75
IndieWire
Passion simultaneously parodies its plot while elevating it to a strangely involving exercise in cinematic drama. The filmmaker has either lost control of the material or maintains the same calculation of his protagonists. But the entertainment value associated with that uncertainty is the essence of his career. - 70
The Dissolve
The movie is one long game of misdirection, playing tricks on viewers from scene to scene, and showing how easy it is to steer a crowd into missing something important. That’s the real De Palma touch, even more than the operatic overtones and excess. - 58
The Playlist
De Palma’s heart ultimately doesn’t feel fully in this film. What Passion is lacking is, ironically, some passion. - 50
Film.com
As a movie, quite frankly, it stinks. As an “entertainment object,” it will no doubt find its boosters. - 50
Variety
Clearly, Passion means to be a hoot, a wet-dream thriller for cinephiles. But by the time it reaches its overwrought final act, the picture has generated neither the tension of its forebears nor the audacity that would allow it to transcend its silliness. - 50
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
DePalma flirts with the lurid and tosses in some interesting third act surprises, but never finds his way back to the sexually charged tone and shocks of his earlier thrillers.