Ruth Negga’s Latest Star Turn Is A Must-See - The Gloss Magazine

Ruth Negga’s Latest Star Turn Is A Must-See

Using the notion of “passing” to explore not just racial identity but issues such as gender, motherhood, sexuality and femininity, Ruth Negga’s latest film will no doubt make for compulsive viewing …

When Ethiopian-Irish actress Ruth Negga read Nella Larsen’s acclaimed novel Passing (published in 1929), she apparently felt “completely astounded.” The story centres on the reunion of two childhood friends – Clare Kendry and Irene Redfield – and their increasing fascination with each other’s lives.

A new film version of Passing is directed and written by Rebecca Hall, and its standout cast not only includes Academy Award nominee and Louis Vuitton ambassador Negga, but also Tessa Thompson, André Holland, Bill Camp, Gbenga Akinnagbe, Antoinette Crowe-Legacy, and Alexander Skarsgard.

The film, shot in black and white, premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, and marks Hall’s directorial debut. She, of course, comes from theatre royalty. Her late father, Peter Hall founded the Royal Shakespeare Company and has been described as “the most important figure in British theatre for half a century.” (No pressure, then!). Hall’s passionate involvement in this project is personal. Her mother is bi-racial and many generations of her family have “passed” as white – the central theme of the film, which is produced by Hall alongside Nina Yang Bongiovi, Forest Whitaker and Margot Hand.

Nella Larsen’s 1929 novel tells the story of two black women, Irene Redfield (Tessa Thompson) and Clare Kendry (Ruth Negga), who can “pass” as white but choose to live on opposite sides of the colour line during the height of the “Harlem Renaissance” in late 1920s New York. After their chance encounter, Irene reluctantly allows Clare into her home, where she ingratiates herself to Irene’s husband (André Holland) and family, and soon her larger social circle as well.

The film, in cinemas now and streaming on Netflix from November 10, has been described as an examination of “obsession, repression and the lies people tell themselves and others to protect their carefully constructed realities”. Using the notion of “passing” to explore not just racial identity but issues such as gender, motherhood, sexuality and femininity, it will no doubt make for compulsive viewing.

www.netflix.com

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