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The Passenger

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The Passenger (1975)

91%
100%
79%
N/A
N/A
N/A
91 %
Reviews Counted: 65 Fresh: 59  Rotten:6 Average Rating: 8/10
 
Consensus: Antonioni's classic, a tale of lonely, estranged characters on a journey though the mysterious landscapes of identity, shimmers with beauty and uncertainty.
 

How does the Tomatometer work?

The Tomatometer measures the percentage of positive reviews from Approved Tomatometer Critics for a certain movie.[-]

Rated: 12A

Runtime: 2 hrs 6 mins

Theatrical Release: 16-06-2006

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 Jack Nicholson, whose deliverance is an identity exchange with a dead man. The film was shot on... 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]

Genre: Dramas

Starring: Jack Nicholson, Maria Schneider, Jenny Runacre, Ian Hendry, Steven Berkoff

Director: Michelangelo Antonioni
Screenwriter: Michelangelo Antonioni
Story: Mark Peploe
Screenwriter: Mark Peploe
Producer: Carlo Ponti

DVD Info

Release:

Feb 3, 2007

[DVD Details]
  • DVD Features
  • Region 1
  • Keep Case
  • Audio - Close Captioning
  • Reviews

     
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    1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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    N/R

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    Full Review | comment Comment
    08/04/07
    Mark Kermode
    Observer [UK]
    Ratings Image
    4/5

    A bleak and moving drama with reflective performance from Jack Nicolson

    Full Review | comment Comment
    09/23/06
    David Parkinson
    Empire Magazine
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    Ratings Image
    4/5

    A classic of a difficult and alienating kind, but one that really does shimmer in the mind like a remembered dream.

    Full Review | comment Comment
    06/24/06
    Peter Bradshaw
    Guardian [UK]
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    5/5

    Thanks to Luciano Tovoli's magnificent cinematography of the African desert and the arid Spanish countryside, we gain a potent sense of Locke's internal emptiness.

    Full Review | comment Comment
    05/30/06
    Tom Dawson
    BBC
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    Ratings Image
    N/A

    The best of Antonioni’s three English-language pictures.

    Full Review | comment Comment
    02/09/06
    Dave Calhoun
    Time Out
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    N/A

    Nicholson gives one of his best performances in this magnificently shot and lingeringly powerful thriller.

    Full Review | comment Comment
    05/24/03
    Jon Fortgang
    Channel 4 Film
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    Ratings Image
    A

    Boasting a great performance from Nicholson, Antonioni's third English-speaking film, arguably his last great work, moves with the unhurried pace, visual sophistication and tight tonal control that mark his oeuvre at the height of his creative powers.

    Full Review | comment Comment
    01/10/08
    Emanuel Levy
    EmanuelLevy.Com
    Ratings Image
    N/A

    Representing a thematic cousin of Antonioni's own pop artifact Blow-Up, Nicholson's hollow man...stumbles down the rabbit hole of social responsibility on his way to unrealized redemption.

    Full Review | comment Comment
    06/28/07
    Kevin Koehler
    Pretentious Musings
    Ratings Image
    1/5

    No review available.

    comment Comment
    05/07/07
    Chuck O'Leary
    FulvueDrive-in.com
    N/R

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    Full Review | comment Comment
    09/23/06
    Atlanta Journal-Constitution
    Ratings Image
    4/4

    What is more interesting than the 'whys' and 'hows' of the plot however, are the 'where' and 'when.'

    Full Review | comment Comment
    08/29/06
    TV Guide's Movie Guide
    Ratings Image
    A-

    Sure, it's obstinately slow, but what an eye this man has. Every frame is fascinating.

    Full Review | comment Comment
    08/23/06
    Bryant Frazer
    Bryant Frazer's Deep Focus
    Ratings Image
    N/A

    Visually inventive film

    Full Review | comment Comment
    08/22/06
    Michael E. Grost
    Classic Film and Television
    Ratings Image
    5/5

    The Passenger has more than its share of virtues...that still retain their power after nearly 30 years.

    Full Review | comment Comment
    08/14/06
    Peter Sobczynski
    eFilmCritic.com
    N/R

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    Full Review | comment Comment
    08/12/06
    Arizona Republic
    Ratings Image
    5/5

    What in different hands would have been a bombastic psychological thriller becomes a stark study of existential alienation.

    Full Review | comment Comment
    08/12/06
    Carina Chocano
    Los Angeles Times
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    3.5/4

    As usual, Antonioni's pace is langorous, but The Passenger is never less than compelling.

    Full Review | comment Comment
    06/05/06
    Peter Canavese
    Groucho Reviews
    Ratings Image
    3.5/4

    A fascinating and haunting film that played to the strengths of both actor and director.

    Full Review | comment Comment
    04/06/06
    Rob Thomas
    Capital Times (Madison, WI)
    Ratings Image
    A

    A tour de force of depth and quality.

    Full Review | comment Comment
    03/15/06
    Dennis Schwartz
    Ozus' World Movie Reviews
    Ratings Image
    3.5/4

    To watch Michelangelo Antonioni’s 1975 masterpiece is to see film the way it once was and may never be again.

    Full Review | comment Comment
    03/03/06
    Robert W. Butler
    Kansas City Star
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    Related Forums

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    (1975)-After a long delay, Antonioni's THE PASSENGER gets a director's cut release!!
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    REEL_REVIEWER
    (1975)-After a long delay, Antonioni's THE PASSENGER gets a director's cut release!!
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    REEL_REVIEWER
    (1975)-After a long delay, Antonioni's THE PASSENGER gets a director's cut release!!
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    REEL_REVIEWER
    (1975)-After a long delay, Antonioni's THE PASSENGER gets a director's cut release!!
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    News

    Remembering Michelangelo Antonioni
    posted by Jen Yamato July 31, 2007
    Italian director Michelangelo Antonioni, who gave the world such influential films as L'Avventura, Blow-Up, and The...

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    • The Passenger at AskMen
     
     
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