Female Film Critics 24/375
In The Passengers of the Night, French director Mikhäel Hers settles in with a recently separated, middle-aged woman and her two children for an exploration of unexceptional and yet quite moving 1980s Parisian lives. Affection for all the characters results from a nonjudgmental, straightforward presentation of events over a seven year period, beginning with François Mitterrand’s election, May 10, 1981.
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Director Mikhaël Hers allows the events of the film to unfold in a naturalistic manner. He is interested in the small moments of life and its rhythm. Paris is shot beautifully, especially the night scenes which give the city a sense of unlimited freedom. The day shots are often interspersed with scenes that look like they could have come from archives in the 1980s. The Passengers of the Night is a film about how people are fragments in the world, but those fragments are a world in themselves.
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