Passion
Brian De Palma
The story: Advertising executive Christine (Rachel McAdams) always gets what she wants, be it in the boardroom or bedroom. When her subordinate Isabelle (Noomi Rapace) shows her up over an ad campaign and sleeps with her lover Dirk (Paul Anderson), Christine goes all out to take her down. Driven to the brink, Isabelle starts popping pills. Things escalate to the point of murder. A remake of the French psychological thriller Love Crime (2010).

Canadian actress Rachel McAdams has often been cast in the sweetheart role, from her breakout film romantic drama The Notebook (2004) to the recent romantic comedy About Time (2013).
But she actually first came to attention for playing a malicious queen bee in the comedy Mean Girls (2004). Here, she slips easily into the role of the scheming, sexually adventurous and vindictive Christine.
She is unapologetic when stealing credit for Isabelle’s idea and adds: “You have talent, I made the best use of it.”
Later, she kisses Isabelle in the back of a car and tells her that she loves her. How very European.
Noomi Rapace’s Isabelle is harder to read. She is Christine’s subordinate and is clearly envious of her life. To some extent, she falls for Dirk precisely because he is Christine’s lover.
Before the film ventures down the path of dark obsession trod by Single White Female (1992), however, it veers off in a different direction.
The undercurrent of rivalry between the two women surges into outright animosity as Christine publicly humiliates Isabelle and pushes her to the brink.
Director Brian De Palma starts using a different lighting scheme and, suddenly, every scene has striped shadows. Then he goes for a split-screen effect to depict Isabelle at the opera and Christine at home.
All of these signal that something momentous is about to happen, but it is still not fully persuasive when the film suddenly turns into a murder-mystery.
It is also rather trying when De Palma uses the cliched waking-from-a-dream device, not once, but twice, even if he does add a twist to it.
The director is best known for his suspense and thriller films from Carrie (1976) to Scarface (1983) to Mission: Impossible (1996). He has also helmed some duds from the high-profile adaptation The Bonfire Of The Vanities (1990) to the crime flick The Black Dahlia (2006).
Passion, belonging to the latter category, is unlikely to win him much love.
(ST)