Watched on Netflix

Whenever actors and actresses switch sides and try their hand at directing, one can be curious: What will their debut be like? What genre will it be? Will they give themselves any dream roles? This is also the case with Rebecca Hall, who recently made a name for herself with such diverse works as the monster spectacle "Godzilla vs. Kong" or the horror mystery "The Night House". Instead of taking her cue from her greater commercial successes, however, she took a book by author Nella Larsen, of all people, as a model for her Netflix drama "Passing" (German title "Seitenwechsel"-changing sides). In the late 1920s, Nella Larsen wrote two novels, plus a few short stories, in which she dealt with questions of ethnic identity - specifically as a descendant of both light- and dark-skinned people.

The fact that Rebecca Hall, a white woman, is now telling this story in film form sounded at least difficult to me at first. As if the so-called whitewashing, when white people take on the roles of people of colour in films, were not questionable enough. Can it be okay for a non-affected person to take on such a sensitive subject? Can a British woman say something about what it means to be caught between two skin colours in a racist 1920s America? And that too with a debut film? But the result proves the up-and-coming filmmaker right. "Passing" is a drama that is as exciting as it is artfully realised, and it addresses some interesting themes that are still relevant decades after Larsen's original.

Of course, the story sounds absurd at first, at least for a local audience: a black woman pretending to be white, that can't really work. When we then also get to know her racist husband (Alexander Skarsgård), who is raving about black people, with great passion, then the end of credibility is finally reached. Yet the situation is often not so clear-cut. "Passing" demonstrates in several respects that there is more than just black and white. On the one hand, the film takes up the problems that people of mixed origin can have, especially in the USA - they are too dark to be white, but too light to be black. On the other hand, it is also about identity as a construction.

Particularly with Clare (Ruth Negga), but also to some extent with Irene (Tessa Thompson), I had the feeling that they are merely playing roles. This may be out of self-protection, to get by in a hostile society. Or out of a longing to find a place for themselves in this world. There is searching and longing, hiding and envying. For as if it were not complicated enough to be able to take the next step in this tightrope walk, everything is called into question again by the mirror image of the other. "Passing" shows how both have gained something through their decisions - but also lost something. Because a decision for also means a decision against.

Later, Hall loses sight of this aspect a little more when the universal questions give way to the personal relationship between the two women, which is at least as complex as the question of identity. But these passages are also worth seeing, especially because of the strong performances of the two leading actresses. The drama is rounded off by the very beautiful pictures. "Passing" uses the old 4:3 format and a pure black and white look with many shades of grey. This gives the film something out of time, on the one hand classic and yet somehow fairytale-like. The only difference is that here we are not talking about princesses and mythical creatures, but about people who have made themselves into stories.