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The Passenger

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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.

Rated: 12A

Runtime: 2 hrs 6 mins

Genre: Dramas

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... 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

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

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Full Review Source: Observer [UK] | comment Comment
08/04/07
Mark Kermode
Mark Kermode
Observer [UK]

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

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
02/09/06
Dave Calhoun
Dave Calhoun
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A bleak and moving drama with reflective performance from Jack Nicolson

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
09/23/06
David Parkinson
David Parkinson
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
05/24/03
Jon Fortgang
Jon Fortgang
Channel 4 Film
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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

Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | comment Comment
06/24/06
Peter Bradshaw
Peter Bradshaw
Guardian [UK]
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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 Source: BBC | comment Comment
05/30/06
Tom Dawson
Tom Dawson
BBC
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N/R

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Full Review Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution | comment Comment
09/23/06
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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N/R

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Full Review Source: Arizona Republic | comment Comment
08/12/06
Arizona Republic
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N/R

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Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | comment Comment
08/12/06
Boston Phoenix
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N/R

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Full Review Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch | comment Comment
08/12/06
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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N/R

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Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
03/31/09
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

No review available.

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

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.

Full Review Source: Reno Gazette-Journal | comment Comment
12/02/05
Forrest Hartman
Forrest Hartman
Reno Gazette-Journal

Remains, thirty years later, as rambling, flaccid, enigmatically brooding and ultimately tedious as it was back in 1975.

Full Review Source: One Guy's Opinion | comment Comment
11/26/05
Frank Swietek
Frank Swietek
One Guy's Opinion

The real Antonioni discovery this year is the DVD release of his first feature, Story of a Love Affair, a film noir from 1950.

Full Review Source: Film-Forward.com | comment Comment
10/28/05
Kent Turner
Kent Turner
Film-Forward.com

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."

Full Review Source: Not Coming to a Theater Near You | comment Comment
10/18/05
Leo Goldsmith
Leo Goldsmith
Not Coming to a Theater Near You

Opaque enough to require additional viewings to better comprehend its intricacies, but it does nothing to draw you back.

Full Review Source: Arizona Daily Star | comment Comment
12/08/05
Phil Villarreal
Phil Villarreal
Arizona Daily Star

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

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
08/29/06
TV Guide's Movie Guide
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A needed antidote in a cinematic world that offers cheap, sugary cinematic snacks. This is a four-course meal.

Full Review Source: E! Online | comment Comment
10/28/05
E! Online
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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.

Full Review Source: The Stranger (Seattle, WA) | comment Comment
11/20/05
Andrew Wright
Andrew Wright
The Stranger (Seattle, WA)
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by rotten rating; UK critics are listed first)
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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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