The monochrome film premiered earlier this year at Sundance Film Festival 2021 and was subsequently acquired by streaming giant Netflix. Passing went on to screen at both the New York Film Festival and the BFI London Film Festival, receiving wide critical acclaim.

Hall, who is best known for her roles in the likes of The Prestige and Iron Man 3, was drawn to the novel of the same name by Nella Larsen due to her mother’s mixed-race heritage. She told the Los Angeles Times: “My whole life this was sort of known and not known, talked about and not talked about. There wasn’t really language for passing.”

However, she added that Larsen’s novel gave her “a context and a historical understanding for what must have happened in my family”.

Here is everything you need to know about Passing and how to watch it now.

Passing release date on Netflix

Passing is released on Netflix worldwide on 10th November 2021. The film will be made available at 8am GMT in the UK.

The film, which is shot entirely in black-and-white, had a two-week theatrical release on 27th October before its streamer debut.

Passing cast

Thor: Ragnarok actress Tessa Thompson stars as mixed-race woman Irene Redfield, while Loving star Ruth Negga stars opposite her as her mixed-race former school friend named Clare Kendry. While Irene identifies as African-American, Clare instead “passes” as white.

Portraying the pair’s on-screen husbands are Moonlight actor Andre Holland as Irene’s Black husband Brian and Big Little Lies star Alexander Skarsgard as Clare’s rich and white husband, John Bellew.

The Queen’s Gambit star Bill Camp also stars as Irene’s white friend, Hugh Wentworth.

Passing plot

The film Passing is based on the novel of the same name by author Nella Larsen, which was first published in 1929.

Both the novel and the film explore the complicated relationship between Irene “Reenie” Redfield and Clare Kendry in 1920s New York City.

The pair were friends in school and both women are mixed race but lead different lives in different cultures.

Reenie is the middle-class wife of a Black doctor named Brian, while Clare has married a wealthy white man named John Bellew and “passes” as a white woman.