With Passages landing on the platform, we invited director Ira Sachs to pick some of his favorite films from the MUBI vaults. “I can’t imagine being myself without these films,” Sachs told us of his selection. “They are so much a part of me that I can’t see my own creative life as separate from them. They sit in my mind like photographs.”

Loulou (Maurice Pialat, 1980)

“Loulou gave co-writer Mauricio Zacharias and I the idea for a story: a love triangle in which the central character is torn between what they have and what they want, the familiar and the unknown. In Loulou, that crux is Isabelle Huppert, and in Passages, it’s Franz Rogowski. I spoke quite a bit with Rogowski about Gérard Depardieu as an actor that we can learn a lot from. We talked specifically about the difference between Depardieu and Gena Rowlands. Rowlands is an actor who in almost every scene seems to be alone, while Depardieu seems intimately connected to others and to the place.”

The Innocent (Dir. Luchino Visconti – 1976)

“Thinking about the triangle in Passages, Mauricio Zacharias and I saw The Innocent and decided to move in a new direction. The film is a portrait of a man in power who wants two love objects at the same time. He seems to have everything, but still wants more. I was struck by my feelings of desire for both Giancarlo Giannini and Laura Antonelli, which triggered the idea of a gay man who is finding unexpected lust for a woman, and how that might change his life. The Innocent is a film of skin, texture, and color: it’s such a turn on. That got me excited. Why did I set out to make a film of pleasure? I wanted to figure out what would excite the audience, but also entertain and engage them. Visconti understood that.”

A Bigger Splash (Jack Hazan, 1973)

“I love that the camera doesn’t blink. There is a voyeuristic intensity to that film, which gives me the permission to watch without shame. The way that sex is integrated into every element of the character’s lives is wonderful. You can’t distinguish between the painting of a painting, and sexual intimacy. A Bigger Splash is a very free film. It’s liberating. It also takes pleasure in music, dancing, color, and fashion. Those are the details that make it a perfect replica of its time. But it also seems very contemporary. There is an essential quality of human life in that film. It’s such an everyday film—yet it’s elevated in all these unexpected ways.”

Portrait of Jason – (Dir. Shirley Clarke – 1967)

“I see Portrait of Jason as a film about violence and performance. How is the artist also the aggressor in both life and work? What is the power of the object? Jason is so strong because he diverts and resists, and holds his space against the force of the filmmaker. It’s also a film that makes an individual’s life monumental. It looks at a man that you feel others might have ignored. Shirley Clarke creates an icon with Jason, by giving him space and by thinking that behavior is character. You have to have a lot of confidence to trust the instincts that this very simple conceptual setup will be resonant in such a powerful way. Shirley is attentive.”

The Mouth Agape – (Dir. Maurice Pialat – 1974)

“If I was going to look back on my own creative life, there is a pretty direct timeline for me that began with the discovery of Cassavettes in the ‘80s, and moved to a period in which Ken Loach, and specifically the films he made with Chris Menges, were teaching me a direction. Then I started watching Maurice Pialat, probably in the early 2000s. Working with cinematographer Josée Deshaies on Passages, there was a moment when she described Pialat as the monster in the room, like the father I can not kill. He’s always better than me, and always a master, while I’m just a student. He always looks down on me. And yet, there is an endless interest in what he’s doing as an artist. There is always more to learn.”

Rebels of the Neon God – (Dir. Tsai Ming-liang – 1992)

“I showed my very small crew in Memphis, Tennessee Rebels of the Neon God before shooting my first feature, The Delta. It’s inspired me for a long time. What is equally inspiring is Tsai Ming-liang’s career after that. What I love about the film is that it’s like expressionist cinema: no shot is without meaning or impact. The motorbikes in Rebels of the Neon God are also lodged in my imagination, and I’m always pulling from that drawer. The role of the bicycle in Passages, the motorbike in The Delta, the force of movement through a city that he establishes in that film works as a counter rhythm to what can be a very quiet and still film. Suddenly, movement creates tension and possibility, which is wonderfully cinematic.”