Ruth Negga in PASSING

She delivers a powerful performance in another film about race in America. The first one, 2016's LOVING, was about Richard and Mildred Loving. The couple, married in the 1950s, was jailed. Jailed for being married. He was White, she was Black and interracial marriage was illegal in some United States. They took legal action and took their case to the Supreme Court. In 1967, Loving v. Virginia won. The Supreme Court ruled that interracial marriage was legal all across America. For her work as Mildred Loving, Ruth Negga earned an Oscar nomination for Best Actress. Now Ruth Negga stars in PASSING, based on the acclaimed 1920s novel by Harlem Renaissance writer, Nella Larsen. The practice of light-skinned Black people pretending to be White was called passing. 

"Don't you know me?," Clare says when she approaches another woman seated in the classy hotel restaurant on a hot day in New York. The other woman, also very well-dressed, gives off an air of nervousness. She seems to be hiding her eyes with the brim of her delicate hat. We'll learn that she was nervous because she's Black. She doesn't make it a practice of passing but she can pass. She is seated in a place where Black people would not be welcomed. Clare, as it turns out, recognizes her friend whom she has not seen in 12 years. Nervous Irene had seen Clare being physically affectionate with a tall, handsome White men who left. Clare has made passing a ritual in her life. That man was her husband. He has no idea about the truth of her. He uses a racial slur in her presence. Irene has a Black husband, a doctor, and they live in Harlem with their two kids.

The point of passing is to have privilege, safety, equal opportunities and access. With her light skin and light hair, Clare can stay in a nice hotel room and order room service. An obviously Black person would not be allowed to stay in the hotel.

To pass, there must be separation to go hand-in-hand with the deception. And it can bring about jealousy. However, at some point, the person passing will long to go home. There will be a failing of Whiteness. Clare insinuates herself into Irene's Harlem life. Clare is jealous. Clare is bothered. But she allows it as she reflects "We're all of us passing for something or other. Aren't we?" 

Lovely and charismatic Clare seems to treat her passing as if it's a game she's winning while she describes her life as "pale." What will happen if the truth of things comes out? The performance from Ruth Negga as Clare is not the only terrific one in this film. The same praise goes to Tessa Thompson as the complicated, uneasy, middle class Irene and Andre Holland as Irene's wise husband. PASSING, now on Netflix, marks the directorial debut of actress Rebecca Hall. She also wrote the screenplay. Brava to Rebecca Hall for this amazing directorial debut. She gives us an elegant, potent film. Here's a trailer.

We've seen Black characters who are passing or who can pass in classic Hollywood films. There was the singer Julie LaVerne character in the 1936 and 1951 versions of SHOW BOAT, there was the light-skinned daughter of the Black maid in the 1934 and 1959 versions of IMITATION OF LIFE and there was the light-skinned nursing school graduate called PINKY (1949). Most of those films had a White actress playing the light-skinned Black woman. Only the original version of IMITATION OF LIFE (1934) had a real light-skinned Black actress playing the daughter who was passing. Fredi Washington was the actress and she gave an Oscar-nomination worthy performance. Ironically, Hollywood executives told Washington that if she pretended to be White, they could make her a glamorous 1930s movie star like Joan Crawford. She refused to deny her race and Hollywood had little work for her after 1934's IMITATION OF LIFE. 

Fredi Washington returned to New York City and did stage work.

PASSING, on Netflix, runs 1 hour 38 minutes. Netflix also has Ruth Negga in LOVING,