WATCH: Ben Whishaw’s in a love triangle in one of the summer’s sexiest movies

Is it hot in here, or is it just Passages?

The new drama from gay filmmaker Ira Sachs (Keep The Lights On, Love Is Strange) is about one steamy, sexy love triangle that’ll have you parched—and it was one of the best movies we saw earlier this year at Sundance.

Passages opens just as young director Tomas (Franz Rogowski) is wrapping up his latest feature, celebrating at a wrap party with his crew and his partner, Martin (out actor Ben Whishaw), a print artist.

The pair have been together for 15 years and have some sort of open relationship, so when Martin decides to leave the party early, it’s not exactly a surprise when Tomas finds someone else to cozy up to. But, this time, it’s a woman.

Agathe (Blue Is The Warmest Color‘s Adèle Exarchopoulos) and Tomas have an instant sexual chemistry and wind up spending the night together. When he tells his partner the next day, we’re to understand it’s not the first time this has happened, but something’s different with Agathe. Or, perhaps its Tomas and Martin’s relationship that’s changed.

From there, Passages follows these relationships as Tomas ping-pongs between two lovers with chaotic queer abandon. Played deftly by rising international star Rogowski (who was also phenomenal in the 2021 gay drama Great Freedom), Tomas might just be one of the most frustrating characters you’ll ever see on screen—which we mean in a good way—making the film darkly funny as he makes bad decision after bad decision.

And, yes, Passages is incredibly intimate and sexy. Before it even premiered at Sundance, audiences were buzzing that Whishaw would “show h*le” in the movie—and while that’s not quite what happens, you might be surprised how much you see of the actor best known as the voice of Paddington and the buttoned-up Q in the James Bond movies.

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Ben Whishaw and James D’Arcy play star-crossed lovers in a movie unlike any other

It’s an overlooked masterpiece.

Beyond the nudity, there’s a rawness and realness to the way Sachs approaches his sex scenes—some of the most honest and erotic we’ve seen—and the messiness of love and attraction for that matter.

One of our favorites of the festival this year, we hailed its lead trio of committed and vulnerable performances, and praised this thorny, frank, provocative adult drama—the kind we don’t see enough of any more.

Fittingly, this hot, hot, hot film hits theaters during the dog days of August, opening in the U.S. on August 4, with international dates to follow.

Check out the trailer for Passages below… and bring a towel: