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The Passenger (1975)
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Reviews Counted:63
Fresh:57
Rotten:6
Average Rating:8.1/10
Consensus: Antonioni's classic, a tale of lonely, estranged characters on a journey though the mysterious landscapes of identity, shimmers with beauty and uncertainty.
Theatrical Release:Oct 28, 2005 Limited
Box Office: $359
Synopsis: Originally released in 1975, The Passenger is, on the simplest level, a suspense story about a man trying to escape his own life. This haunting film is a portrait of a drained journalist, played by... Originally released in 1975, The Passenger is, on the simplest level, a suspense story about a man trying to escape his own life. This haunting film is a portrait of a drained journalist, played by Jack Nicholson, whose deliverance is an identity exchange with a dead man. The film was shot on location and takes Nicholson on an incredible journey through Africa, Spain, Germany and England. As with all of Antonioni's work, however, there is another dimension. From beginning to end we are witnessing a probing study of the human condition. The protagonist's fate reflects each individual's own private thoughts about real and/or imagined destiny. The climax of the film, alone – a final sequence lasting seven minutes and taking eleven days to shoot is truly a synthesis of the movie and a tribute to the director's art. Antonioni, in talking about his motion picture, says: "I consider The Passenger my most stylistically mature film. I also consider it a political film as it is topical and fits with the dramatic rapport of the individual in today's society." The Passenger brought together two of the screen's most exciting personalities, Jack Nicholson and Maria Schneider, who had become an overnight sensation opposite Marlon Brando in "Last Tango in Paris." The Passenger is based on an original story by Mark Peploe and was filmed from a screenplay by Peploe, Peter Wollen and Antonioni. This preferred director's cut is the version of the film that was originally released in Europe under the title Professione: reporter. --© Sony Pictures Classics [More]
Starring: Jack Nicholson, Maria Schneider, Jenny Runacre, Ian Hendry
Starring: Jack Nicholson, Maria Schneider, Jenny Runacre, Ian Hendry, Steven Berkoff, Charles Mulvehill
Director: Michelangelo Antonioni
Director: Michelangelo Antonioni
Screenwriter: Michelangelo Antonioni
Story: Mark Peploe
Screenwriter: Mark Peploe
Producer: Carlo Ponti
Studio: Sony Pictures Classics
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Reviews for The Passenger
Some consider The Passenger a classic, which leads me to believe there are also people who enjoy waiting for trains that will probably never arrive.
Remains, thirty years later, as rambling, flaccid, enigmatically brooding and ultimately tedious as it was back in 1975.
The real Antonioni discovery this year is the DVD release of his first feature, Story of a Love Affair, a film noir from 1950.
This is an art film - and an Antonioni film at that - so what sounds like a thriller pregnant with romance and political intrigue is rather what we Americans call "ambiguous."
Opaque enough to require additional viewings to better comprehend its intricacies, but it does nothing to draw you back.
What is more interesting than the 'whys' and 'hows' of the plot however, are the 'where' and 'when.'
A needed antidote in a cinematic world that offers cheap, sugary cinematic snacks. This is a four-course meal.
One of the clearest representations of the director's worldview, in which the epic landscapes and camera movements eerily mirror a character's inner life ... or lack of one.
Antonioni's is a bleak, existential take on life, but...the sheer artistry of the director's technique make[s] for an exhilarating film experience.
Sure, it's obstinately slow, but what an eye this man has. Every frame is fascinating.
What in different hands would have been a bombastic psychological thriller becomes a stark study of existential alienation.
Latest News for The Passenger
July 31, 2007:
Remembering Michelangelo Antonioni
Italian director Michelangelo Antonioni, who gave the world such influential films as L'Avventura, Blow-Up, and The Passenger, died Monday at the age of 94. More...
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