Sacrificing to Live as Yourself: A Double Feature of Social Belonging and Artistic Freedom
Two screening series are currently running at the FACETS Cinema this month, making for an opportune and coincidental pairing of two films with different perspectives on the nature of belonging. Rebecca Hall’s film Passing, part of our If We Picked the Oscars series, screens on March 18th-20th and Paris Blues is showing on the 20th as one of the films in our Tribute to Sydney Poitier. Both film series are programmed by Charles Coleman, FACETS Film Program Director, and this is a unique chance to experience two carefully curated films in conversation with one another on the same weekend.
Passing
DIRECTED BY REBECCA HALL
Based on the novel by Nella Larsen, considered to be the premier novelist of the Harlem Renaissance, Passing is the story of two women living in 1920’s New York whose lives have diverged along class lines from when they were childhood friends.
Irene (Tessa Thompson), a light skinned Black woman, is living with her doctor husband (André Holland) in Harlem. By chance, she runs into Clare (Ruth Negga), her childhood friend, who is now married to a white man and passing as a white woman in society circles. Clare’s husband John (Alexander Skarsgård) is a wealthy Chicago socialite but also an avowed racist unaware of his wife’s background. Though her husband quickly alienates Irene, Clare wants to reconnect with her roots and the two women begin spending time together. Each gives the other insight into their own identities within society’s racial and class framework but they also start down a road of inevitable conflict as Clare starts to enjoy the relief of being around people who see and value who she truly is again.
Rebecca Hall adapted Larsen’s novel herself, making her directorial debut with the film after years as an actress in front of the camera. Kate Erbland’s review at IndieWire describes the results “…as beautiful and bruising and knotty as the novel that inspired it.” Meanwhile over at Deep Focus Review, Brian Eggert calls attention to the film’s “…sophisticated and gorgeous application of form…” while reflecting on how assured Hall’s directing work is. Dealing with complicated themes gracefully, both in its performance and in direction, Passing is a powerful literary adaptation that doesn’t soften the nature of its source material.
See Passing in person at the FACETS Cinema from March 18th-20th.
Paris Blues
DIRECTED BY MARTIN RITT
The tale of two American expatriates living in Paris working as Jazz musicians, Paris Blues covers a different time in history than Passing but one no less aware of the discrimination that Black people dealt with in American society. Ram Bowen (Paul Newman) and Eddie Cook (Sidney Poitier) have differing goals in their careers as musicians but find the Jazz scene in Paris’ 1950’s nightclub scene more vibrant, and French society more accepting, than in America. But when they get romantically involved with a pair of visiting American tourists (Diahann Carroll and Joanne Woodward), they have to rethink if Paris is the place they should truly call home.
Based on a novel written by Harold Flender, actor Timothée Chalamet’s grandfather, Paris Blues features music and appearances from some of the biggest names in Jazz like Duke Ellington, Aaron Bridgers, and Louis Armstrong. Curiously, the romantic pairings in the film reflected real-life relationships: Carroll and Poitier became involved during the filming of Porgy and Bess earlier, and Newman married Joanne Woodward in 1958 while starring alongside her in three previous films.
Beyond those aspects, Paris Blues is a film with an interesting perspective on a time that was fairly recent. Director Martin Ritt was respected for his willingness to tackle thorny social themes of the time. Both Newman and Poitier had worked with Ritt beforehand, with Newman later receiving an Oscar nomination for his performance in Ritt’s film Hud in 1963. Poitier’s experience making Edge of the City (1957), another film with complex racial themes, drew him to this project. Paris Blues has been overlooked within the careers of all its cast and crew, a vivacious musical tribute to a period uncommon to the screen and depicted without the tinge of nostalgia.
One last note about the connection between Ritt, Newman, and Poitier: in 1963, when Newman was nominated in Ritt’s film Hud, the Best Actor winner was none other than Sidney Poitier for his performance in Lilies of the Field.
Watch Paris Blues in-person at the FACETS Cinema on Sunday, March 20th at 1 PM.
Richard Hooper is an Editorial Assistant Intern at FACETS and is a big fan of Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s work, so he’s thrilled the director is getting so much attention this year. He has an MA in the Humanities from the University of Chicago, writing his thesis on intermediality in animated film. He’s worked with film practically and critically, and a piece of his heart will always belong with 35mm projection.