If you only know Rachel McAdams as the "it girl" from Mean Girls or the heartbreaking lead in The Notebook, her 2012 movie Passion is going to be a massive shock to your system. It is weird. It is slick. Honestly, it’s kinda trashy in that high-art way only a director like Brian De Palma can pull off.
I’ve watched a lot of thrillers, but this one sticks in the brain like a fever dream you can't quite shake. It’s not a "good" movie in the traditional sense—critics basically tore it apart when it debuted at the Venice Film Festival—but it has become a total cult classic for people who love stylized, corporate backstabbing and bizarre plot twists.
What Most People Get Wrong About Passion
The biggest mistake people make is going into this expecting a standard erotic thriller. The marketing made it look like a steamy, late-night cable movie about two women having an affair. In reality? It’s a cold-blooded satire of corporate ego.
McAdams plays Christine, a high-powered advertising executive in Berlin who is essentially Regina George with a corporate credit card and a much darker streak. She isn't just a boss; she’s a predator. She mentors Isabelle (played by the intense Noomi Rapace), then steals her ideas and publicly humiliates her.
Most viewers see the "lesbian undertones" and think the movie is about sex. It’s not. It is about power. The sex is just another tool Christine uses to keep people off balance.
The Plot: Corporate Warfare Gone Wrong
The story kicks off when Isabelle comes up with a brilliant, viral ad campaign for a new smartphone. Instead of giving her protégé credit, Christine swipes it to land a big promotion in New York.
Things get messy fast.
Isabelle starts an affair with Christine’s boyfriend, Dirk, mostly out of spite. Christine finds out and retaliates by releasing a sex tape of Isabelle to the entire office. It’s brutal. From there, the movie spirals from a workplace drama into a full-blown murder mystery.
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Why Rachel McAdams Is Actually Great in This
A lot of people said McAdams was miscast because she’s "too nice." I totally disagree. Her performance is the best part of the film because she leans into the campiness.
She plays Christine with this terrifying, plastic smile. She’s "purring" through her lines, wearing these incredibly bright, monochromatic outfits—reds, baby blues, fuchsias—that make her look like a doll in a glass-and-steel dollhouse.
- The "Mafia Kiss": There is a scene where McAdams kisses Rapace, and De Palma describes it as a "kiss of death." It’s deeply uncomfortable and perfectly captures how Christine uses intimacy as a weapon.
- The Twin Sister Monologue: At one point, Christine tells a tragic story about her dead twin sister. Is it true? Who knows. In a De Palma movie, doubles and twins are a recurring obsession, and McAdams delivers the lines with just enough fake emotion to make you wonder if she's a total sociopath.
Brian De Palma’s "Old School" Style
If you aren't familiar with the director, he’s the guy behind Scarface, Carrie, and Mission: Impossible. By the time he made Passion, he was 73 and clearly didn't care about making a "grounded" movie.
He uses every trick in his book.
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There’s a famous split-screen sequence that is basically the movie's centerpiece. On one side, you see a graceful ballet (Debussy’s Afternoon of a Faun). On the other side, you see a brutal murder happening in real-time. It’s pretentious, sure, but it’s also undeniably stylish.
Then there’s the lighting. In the second half, the movie stops looking like a glossy office and starts looking like a 1940s Film Noir. Huge shadows, tilted camera angles (Dutch angles), and blue filters everywhere. It’s meant to show Isabelle’s mental breakdown as she starts popping pills and losing track of what’s real and what’s a dream.
How It Differs From the Original
Most people don't realize Passion is a remake of a French film called Love Crime (2010).
The original is much more serious. In that one, the boss is played by Kristin Scott Thomas, who is significantly older than the assistant. That age gap makes the power dynamic feel maternal and creepy.
In the McAdams version, the two women are closer in age. This turns it into more of a "frenemy" rivalry. De Palma also changed the assistant character, Dani, into a woman who is secretly in love with Isabelle. This means the movie is almost entirely driven by women, with the men (like the slimy Dirk) just being pawns on the board.
The Problem With the Ending
Okay, let’s be real: the last 20 minutes are a mess.
The movie shifts into a "whodunit" where the police are investigating Christine’s murder. There are dreams-within-dreams-within-dreams. By the time the credits roll, you might find yourself asking, "Wait, what actually happened?"
Critics hated this. They felt the "It was all a dream... or was it?" trope was lazy. But if you watch it as a "trash noir" or a tribute to Italian giallo films, the absurdity is the point. It’s not supposed to be a tight legal thriller; it’s supposed to be a hallucinatory nightmare.
Should You Watch It?
If you love Rachel McAdams, you should see it just to see her play a villain. She is clearly having the time of her life being a total "bitch-on-heels."
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But if you want a logical, heart-pounding thriller like Gone Girl, you might be disappointed. Passion is slow, weirdly scored with 80s-style synth music by Pino Donaggio, and frequently unintentionally funny.
Actionable Takeaways for Your Next Rewatch:
- Watch the Wardrobe: Notice how Christine’s clothes get brighter and more aggressive as she becomes more manipulative.
- Pay Attention to the Screens: The movie is obsessed with technology—Mac laptops, YouTube, smartphones, and security cameras. It’s a commentary on how we are always being watched in the corporate world.
- Look for the Mask: The white carnival mask used in the murder is a classic De Palma trope. It’s meant to strip away identity.
- Compare it to Mean Girls: Seriously. If you view Christine as an adult Regina George who never learned to stop being a bully, the movie makes a lot more sense.
Don't expect a masterpiece. Expect a stylish, messy, and deeply weird experiment. Sometimes, that’s exactly what makes a movie worth talking about a decade later.