THE PASSENGER at AFI FEST 2007 Presented by Audi

DIR: Michelangelo Antonioni
SCR: Mark Peploe,
Peter Wollen,
Michelangelo Antonioni
PROD: Carlo Ponti, Alessandro von Norman
DP: Luciano Tovoli
ED: Michelangelo Antonioni, Franco Arcalli
MUS: Ivan Vandor
CAST: Jack Nicholson, Maria Schneider, Jenny Runacre, Ian Hendry, Steven Berkoff, Ambroise Bia, José María Caffarel, James Campbell, Manfred Spies, Jean-Baptiste Tiemele, Ángel del Pozo, Charles Mulvehill, Narciso Pula

Michelangelo Antonioni's last great movie appeared in 1975, when he was in his early '60s. It's officially a French-Spanish-Italian co-production, with an American star, Jack Nicholson.

The film immediately escapes all these categories, beginning in stark desert terrain and following a man called Locke who assumes the identity of another man called Robertson. The director works from a fine spare screenplay by Mark Peploe and Peter Wollen. With its dangling flashbacks, long takes, deep spaces, and hovering sense of violence, THE PASSENGER is one of the strongest films in Antonioni's enduring study of identity and apartness.

"People disappear every day," says the woman (Maria Schneider). "Every time they leave the room," says the man (Nicholson). In Spain, he finally reenters the room. The famous final seven-minute take of human isolation is unforgettable. This missing film reappears after 25 years.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Milestones
• AFI
• Fest
• Passenger
• Feature
• Jack
• Nicholson
• classic
• film
• movie
• hollywood

[DoctaDualist]

Kinda hard not to make a good-looking movie with such locations

[thepodeltaitaly]

I once thought that The Passenger was simply about a man who wanted to be free of his old identity and couldn't quite shake his old self. Antonioni said that it was actually about an "observer" [his profession: a reporter] who wishes to be a "doer" [a vaguely romantic gunrunner supporting a fledgling democratic/socialist rebellion].

[thepodeltaitaly]

Today I see that this character desires to have the moral purpose of the man that he exchanges lives with. Ironically, Antonioni's camera is almost an objective observer itself (especially in the final scene), usually his camera is related to character/consciousness, however, in this film it is related to theme, but it's also poetically free.

[PetrosArgonaut]

One of the most memorable scenes in this film, along with the problems in the desert and the interview...

[scarletlake77]

this is my favorite movie. there is nothing to explain about the end. there is no meaning behind his death. the circumstances played out in his favor, and sometimes they didn't. it's refreshing to have something unclouded, quiet, even in style. a great achievement.

[grindhouse141]

Could someone please explain the ending to me!

[paolina79]

really great film

[ubbuu]

i love this scene, so original

[pdt113]

The past....

[Fobber1980]

She is so fuc.... adorable in that movie! So sad she got hooked on heroin later on.