We haven’t a really good menage a trois movie in quite a while, have we?
So, welcome to “Passages,” directed by Ira Sachs and starring Franz Rogowski, Ben Whishaw and Adèle Exarchopoulos. “Passages” hails from indie distributor MUBI. It was rated NC-17 because they all have a lot of sex with each other. (The two guys are married to each other, Rogowski’s character also falls in love with Exarchopolous’s. Hilarity and fornication ensue.)
Over the weekend, “Passages” — only in theaters — had the highest per screen average of any movie — $21,333 in each of three theaters. I’m sure the number of theaters will grow next Friday. “Passages” has a very high 93 on Rotten Tomatoes.
It looks “steamy” from the trailer. MUBI — which is only six years old — has gotten a fast reputation for repping cutting edge films around the world — movies like “Drive My Car” and “Aftersun.” But “Passages” is their first one sent just to US theaters with no streaming as of yet.
NC-17 films used to be rated “X” and can’t be advertised in old school media like newspapers. But it’s a new world now with the ‘interweb’. Social media and the like have changed all the rules. Also, Sachs has a reputation for making daring films, so his name carries a lot of weight, too. Actress Exarchopolous also already has an NC-17 movie under her belt with “Blue is the Warmest Color.” Whishaw you know from James Bond movies, although he’s an important theater actor in the UK.
“Passages” was a big hit at Sundance last winter — of course — and soon everyone will see it. How well it does in theaters is almost beside the point. When it hits the MUBI streaming service, the company will have to buy extra bandwidth.
