Passing on Netflix
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Anonymous
| Towards the end of her life and when her career had ended, the actress Carol Channing disclosed that she was black. She was always cast as a white woman on stage and in films so assume she was passing as white most of her life. Her father was described as multiracial, African American and Euro American. His mother, Channing's grandmother, was African American. Channing's mother told her when she left to attend college that her father was half African American and the grandmother was African American. Her mother did not want Channing to be surprised if she gave birth to a black child. I assume she meant the coloring of the child would give away that he/she was black. Channing publicly revealed her African American ancestry in the early 2000s. |
Anonymous
| Does anyone have any theories as to the end of this movie? Did Rene tip off Clare’s husband about the party? And did Rene push Clare off the balcony? So much was left up to the viewer to decide. My feeling is yes, on both counts. She knew Clare was a threat to her marriage so she did what needed to be done. |
Anonymous
| I agree with prior posters that neither of these two actresses could actually have “passed.” Someone like Rashida Jones would have been far more believable. |
Anonymous
I think the focus is more on the acting and the storyline and not on trying to convince yourself that either actress could pass for white or looks white enough to pass. You are missing the story and all the nuances in the movie. Rashida Jones is not the caliber actress that could play either of these roles. Both Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga are Oscar level actresses. A Rashida Jones type is not even though she could easily pass for white. Just because an actress may look the part does not mean she has the talent to play it. |
Anonymous
I think Clare's husband was tipped off when he came upon Irene and her friend while out walking. Irene attempted to warn Clare but Clare was not home when Irene called and Irene did not want to leave a message. I believe Clare's husband figured our Clare's plans to go to a party that evening and followed her to the party without her knowing. By the time he realized Irene was black, he knew Clare was passing and was furious. Clare was a threat to Irene but Clare's life was a ticking timebomb. It was only a matter of time before she was exposed. |
Anonymous
| I thought it was beautifully done and it hits close to home. I had great uncles on both my mother's and father's side who passed when convenient. They did it primarily to get better jobs. My father was told never to speak to his uncle if he saw him out in public. Another book on the subject is The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett. |
Anonymous
| I found the movie had multiple elements of “passing”. I saw not only passing for race but also sexuality and even elitism. I read somewhere they actresses were chosen to challenge our believability. Whereas it was obvious to many — the larger issue is that this happened in real life and so many people were fooled when it should have been obvious. I have seen many a friend or two pass for “non American” when they turn on their second or third language they learned in high school. I also witnessed( as I’m sure you have) plenty of men passing for straight - another theme that was barely touched on in this movie. It was great. It frustrated me because I thought Tessa would get caught on plenty of occasions. I also hated that in her accepted of black race she also denied - watch the clip with her boys when she doesn’t want to address lynchings. Oh oh and her husband calling her dark — I wanted to fall out my chair. Great movie!! |
Anonymous
+1. |
Anonymous
Plus I believe that Rebecca Hall, who adapted and directed it (and whose mother was 1/2 Black passing) wanted the audience to be aware at all times that the women were Black, and wonder why others didn’t see them that way. She also wanted Black actresses because most movies that have a character passing used white actresses to play those roles, and yet white women haven’t lived the same experience at all. |
Anonymous
Yes, good points. Thank you. |
Anonymous
The director, Rebecca Hall, shared in an article in The Guardian why she purposely cast darker skinned black women in these roles: Her choice of cast was equally bold. With the exception of John M Stahl’s original 1934 version of Imitation of Life, which featured mixed-heritage Fredi Washington as Peola, every previous Hollywood film on the topic has cast a white actor in the passing role. “Those films are white-gaze-y,” Hall says, “in the sense that they centre the white experience of receiving someone passing, like, ‘Oh yeah, they look white …’ and I really didn’t want to do that.” Casting Thompson and Negga, “women who people broadly understand to be Black women, or biracial”, meant redressing cinema’s history of whitewashing, but also served a dramatic purpose: “It puts the audience in that position of looking at them and going, ‘Oh no! Are they OK? Isn’t everyone seeing what I’m seeing?’ “The most articulate way I can describe it is that if you’re in a Black family and a member leaves and crosses the colour line, you don’t ever see them as white, even if all the white people see it. And that’s the perspective that I wanted the audience to see it from.” https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/oct/27/rebecca-hall-race-regret-personal-history-any-family-legacy-of-passing-very-tricky |
Anonymous
yes! one of the women could NOT pass and it low key bothered me b/c that is part of teh cruelty of white supremacy and the Black experience, a women who looked like that would've been hollered at and told to get out, there was no escape from the random humiliation unless you had enough white in you to pass as white and even then you'd be terrified that someone would ID you. there was a fantastic book about this that i just read.. i think by brit bennet?? |
Anonymous
| just went back and read teh directors reasoning and it is brilliant. totally made me see it in a different light. that unease that we feel that they will be doscovered and the fear is purposeful. |
Anonymous
Rosalind Cash is not his first wife. She never married. https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2021/05/16/johnny-cash-first-wife-vivian-black/ |
Anonymous
| Clare would never hire a black maid because she was fearful the maid would know she was passing. The husband thought it was because she hated black people like he did. But, black folks know when other black folks are passing. |