This is another exploration of why we need audio description. I rented Passages after it started popping up in awards races, before I was ever granted access as a member of Film Independent. Apple wasn’t offering audio description, and with the film being distributed by Mubi, things weren’t looking good.

There’s a lot of French here, so unless you are fluent, or French Canadian, likely Passages is going to get you with a language barrier. Even the role occupied with Ben Whishaw isn’t enough to make up the difference. he’s supporting, and the film is really about an un likable protagonist who is deeply selfish and makes terrible life choices. It doesn’t help that the actor is speaking out of his primary language, which makes even his spoken English difficult to understand at times.

Then, we have the sex. Not that sex turns me off, but without audio description, it’s just a lot of moaning. I have no context, which is exactly what a sighted audience would get. Independent distributors like Mubi operate on the idea that they are often celebrating and elevating under represented voices that are commonly found in independent cinema. The problem with that, is that when you lack the follow through to make sure that the product that is supposedly sending this new and unique underrepresented or marginalized voice out into the world, you need to make sure it’s accessible. It’s hard to get excited about a company that chooses, let’s say, “art for arts sake”, but doesn’t think about what the experience of that art is. I’m not legally prohibited from your art, just as you are hiding behind the lack of laws requiring audio description. The difference is, my interpretation of your art is bastardized by the lack of accessibility, turning what some have found to be an interesting cinematic experience into a waste of time.

Perhaps, there is a film here worth a true artists welcome, but unfortunately, that artist has chosen to sell their product to a distributor that has no priority to make this art accessible to all viewers. And there lies the problem. Do we continue to give a pass to these indie distributors who seemingly lack the money to add audio description to a film and make sure that it follows that film from theatres on down the line, or do we say you cannot pretend to be a champion of lost souls while blocking some of your audience from the art you’ve chosen to amplify.

Long story short, put some fucking audio description on your films.

Final Grade: Unwatchable