Passing
Navigating the boundaries of race remains problematic, but in the America of a century ago, it was perilous under the best circumstances. For some Blacks, one way around the barrier of bigotry was to “pass” as white. The 1929 novel by Harlem Renaissance author Nella Larsen, Passing, was a close examination of the situation through the lives of two Black women.
In the compelling film adaptation, Clare (Ruth Negga) has died her hair blond and passed into white society. Clare encounters a light complexioned friend whom she hasn’t seen in years, Irene (Tessa Thompson), and wonders whether Irene ever “passes.” Active in the Negro Welfare League, Irene is discomfited by the idea but admits, “For convenience, occasionally.”
What follows is the almost unbearably awkward arrival of Clare’s wealthy white husband, John (Alexander Skarsgård). He’s an amiable, outspoken racist, clueless about Clare’s origin and jokes about her slightly dusky skin. John claims to hate Blacks so much that he won’t hire them as servants.
That meeting triggers Clare’s desire to reconnect with her dark roots, but it won’t be easy. To begin with, her old friend isn’t certain that she wants this racial turncoat around. Irene lives with her husband Brian (André Holland), a successful physician, in a handsome Harlem brownstone. They have a Black servant and maintain a proper bourgeoise life. Their marriage is loving but increasingly testy. Brian wants to be open with their boys—about sex but also on the deadly perils of being Black in land where lynching is condoned. Irene wants to shelter the children. They discuss “going abroad” to escape America’s problems, maybe Europe? And then Clare arrives, turning every head, including Brian’s.
Passing is the directorial debut by British actress Rebecca Hall. She pointedly filmed the story in black and white and framed each scene tightly. Little is shown beyond the conversations taking place. The Harlem Renaissance—the fertile period of Black arts and activism that informed Larsen’s novel—is implicit but seen only in the form of an historically accurate jazz combo playing at a fundraising dance. White brutality against Blacks is revealed in conversation, never shown.
The tight framing may have been useful for a film on a modest budget with fewer extras to hire, fewer period costumes to sew, fewer antique autos on the streets. More importantly, the cinematic strategy compresses the larger story of race into the emotional lives of a handful of people, their desires and jealousies, their differences and shared dilemmas. The tightness also suggests enclosure, the confinement of the characters in their society. The cast handle their roles with nuanced responses and subtle gestures, the drama of their lives carefully calibrated.
Passing is showing at the Downer Theater.
