With cameras rolling this spring on "Passion," Brian De Palma's first feature film in six years, there's no doubt it will be a hot item when it's repped at the Cannes marketplace, and certainly this first official image from the film will get people talking.
Stars Rachel McAdams and Noomi Rapace go in for an (uneasy, it seems) kiss in the thriller that promises to have a sexual charge. A loose remake of Alain Corneau's 2010 French film “Love Crime,” which starred Ludivine Sagnier and Kristin Scott-Thomas, that movie told the story of two women involved in a sexy and dangerous power struggle while working at a multinational conglomerate. And while it's still unclear just what changes to the story have been made in de Palma's do-over, the official plot synopsis sheds a bit more light on what we can expect:
An erotic thriller in the tradition of "Dressed To Kill" and "Basic Instinct", Brian de Palma's PASSION tells the story of a deadly power struggle between two women in the dog-eat-dog world of international business. Christine possesses the natural elegance and casual ease associated with one who has a healthy relationship with money and power. Innocent, lovely and easily exploited, her admiring protégé Isabelle is full of cutting-edge ideas that Christine has no qualms about stealing. They're on the same team, after all… Christine takes pleasure in exercising control over the younger woman, leading her one step at a time ever deeper into a game of seduction and manipulation, dominance and humiliation. But when Isabelle falls into bed with one of Christine's lovers, war breaks out. On the night of the murder, Isabelle is at the ballet, while Christine receives an invitation to seduction. From whom? Christine loves surprises. Naked she goes to meet the mystery lover waiting in her bedroom…
Needless to say, this first look is a helluva tease, and that description seems to fit squarely in the wheelhouse where De Palma does his best work, so we're pretty excited for this one. No release date yet, but this looks like a nice gear change for McAdams and another fascinating choice from Rapace, and we can't wait to see what they cook up together.
