★★★★☆

This thorny ménage à trois drama from US director Ira Sachs straps us into a romantic rollercoaster as a chaotic filmmaker pinballs between two partners. ‘You can pursue anything you want, anything that excites you, but you can’t dictate how I feel,’ the long-suffering Martin (Ben Whishaw) tells his faithless husband, Tomas (Franz Rogowski), when he reveals he has fallen for a woman. Passages might seem salacious, yet it’s admirably alive to the emotional fallout from Tomas’ behaviour.

In this Paris-set film, Blue Is The Warmest Colour’s Adèle Exarchopoulos plays Agathe, the irresistible female in question, whose initial air of sultry nonchalance (we see her dispatching a boyfriend without a second thought in a sexy club scene) masks her palpable vulnerability and conventionality. She’s not dissimilar to Whishaw’s sweet print-shop owner in her temperament and desire for a normal life, with the needy and perpetually dissatisfied Tomas tormenting the pair of them.

Passages takes us through key emotional and transitional scenes for the trio in a way that feels curious and intimate, with the film’s visual restraint and sympathetic tone lending a touch of class. If the characterisation can be a little inconsistent, Sachs coaxes sublime performances from all three leads.

There’s poignant, finely tuned work from Whishaw and Exarchopoulos as two gentle souls plucking up the courage to push back. And, at the centre, the charismatic, fascinating-to-watch Rogowski manages to be both childlike and predatory, playing a flamboyantly attired force of nature.

Passages screens at Picturehouse Central, Friday 7 July, 7pm and 7.15pm, Saturday 8 July, noon, as part of Sundance Film Festival London; screens at Vue, Edinburgh, Saturday 19 August, 8.15pm, 8.30pm and 8.45pm, Sunday 20 August, 11.35am, as part of Edinburgh International Film Festival; in cinemas from Friday 1 September.