Antonioni's moviemaking panache and distinctive narrative rhythm rarely have seemed so enticing and satisfying.
The Passenger (1975)
Tomatometer
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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: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
Reviews for The Passenger
Michelangelo Antonioni's The Passenger is more than the re-release of a great film -- it's a rare chance to see a major cinematic work, perhaps more than once, on the big screen.
One of the deepest, most rigorous, and most rewarding films of its era.
The Passenger...meanders but there is an interesting story of changed identity, international arms deals and a failed marriage.
A film like few others that truly celebrates the journey itself, not the destination, and offers sights enough to behold that you feel like you've already arrived even before you've been anywhere.
It's a movie from the past that still points ahead to the future: a cinematic rite of passage that raptly recalls a time when the world may have been as uncertain as now, but the movies were often lovelier and more daring.
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.
The film's final seven-minute shot is one of the great denouements in film history.
The Passenger isn't finally the masterpiece some have made it out to be, but it retains a singular intrigue: It's the first, and probably the last, thriller ever made about depression.
The Passenger can make one nostalgic -- mostly, for a time when foreign films mattered.
A needed antidote in a cinematic world that offers cheap, sugary cinematic snacks. This is a four-course meal.
The real Antonioni discovery this year is the DVD release of his first feature, Story of a Love Affair, a film noir from 1950.
Even if one new person is turned on to the works of this brilliant filmmaker, then this film's long, strange trip will have been worth it.
Leisurely and old-fashioned as The Passenger may be, this tour de force ending is worth the wait.
The pain of human isolation and the stark beauty of the desert make this preferred director’s cut a giant re-release onto comparatively bland screens.
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."
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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