User Reviews

There is no doubt that Evgueni Mlodik's "Passion Remembered" is a comedy at heart (its humorous final shot undoubtedly proves this fact) but it is a comedy that deals with romantic relationships in a refreshingly frank manner. Its unique combination of humor and drama draws upon European sensibilities far more than American ones, as does its stylish, carefully-framed camera-work, which is unafraid to get in close to the actors, granting the audience an intimacy with them American filmmakers for some reason often shun. The (implied) scenes of sexuality are not treated seriously; the characters' romanticized idealism concerning their illicit relationships is utterly ludicrous, and the film knowingly mocks them with a sudden burst of rowdy salsa music upon the advent of each such scene. It critiques such idealism in a manner evoking the writings of M.C. Dillon (and in the end the couple that acts as the film's protagonists find their love reaffirmed by an honesty Dillon would certainly approve of), but it does so in a blatantly comic tone.

This winking sense of the absurd concerning sexual desire certainly recalls the erotic comedies of Tinto Brass, whose bedroom scenes in "La Chiave" were humorously punctuated with similarly bawdy music and at one point the sound of a neighing horse. The rest of the music score hearkens back to just such films' time period; slightly jazzy, it seems drawn directly out of the eighties, setting the tone and style very well. "Passion Remembered" is briskly paced, intriguing in both visuals and plot, and although it is often poignant and painfully candid concerning its characters' troubled relationships, it is a joy to watch because it simultaneously keeps its tongue planted so firmly in cheek.