The Passengers of the Night (2022)

I’ve only put 2022 as a release year because it’s the year it premiered on the festival circuit- Mikhael Hers’ film hasn’t actually received a UK release date yet. Which is a real shame. The Passengers of the Night features a superb performance from Charlotte Gainsbourg as a single mother raising her two teenage children in 1980’s Paris. After being left by her husband (who we never meet) she is forced to take a second job at a late night radio show to make ends meet; and this leads to her meeting Tallulah, a troubled teenager who Elisabeth (Gainsbourg) invites to stay with her family until she finds her feet. This is more or less the set up for the film, which is beautifully shot using Paris itself as a character; the vibrant colours of some of the high-rise architecture combine brutalist and modern styles to really make the feel of the era authentic. It’s also a film about cinema, Elisabeth’s two children Mathias and Judith take Tallulah to their local cinema where they sneak into a screening of what they think is Joe Dante’s Gremlins (1984) but turns out to be Eric Rohmer’s Full Moon In Paris (1984); Hers isn’t ashamed to wear his influences on his sleeve and in this case it results in a hugely rich experience, as tender as it is engaging. In certain ways The Passengers of the Night reminded me of La Haine (1995) in terms of social drama and the films’ setting, but almost the complete opposite in most respects. I put it to Hers in a Q&A after the screening that at times it felt like the anti-La Haine, and that although the film had a warm and happy through line, certain subject matter (Tallulah struggles with drug addiction for example, whilst Elisabeth is a cancer survivor) were played in a way that felt that the film could take a dark turn at any moment. Hers admitted that he initially had a completely different ending, one that I won’t give away but would have made for a very different film. The performances are all excellent and Gainsbourg drives the film; her job at the radio station ends up being key to this period of her life as the film jumps forward a few years on a couple of occasions, and we can see how important it’s been to her. Not just in the sense of job security but, for example, as a result of the job itself she meets Tallulah, who becomes a huge influence on the family throughout the decade. The sooner the film finds a UK release the better, it’s a film made with love; and that’s an emotion that carries the viewer through the film, and certainly an emotion that I felt towards it at the films conclusion. 8.3/10