I reserve the right to change my mind (I haven’t seen the Mystery of Oberwald– I can’t find it- and have only seen Identification of a Woman once) but The Passenger is last great work from one of cinema’s true masters
TSPT #161 of all-time at time I’m reviewing
I’ll get to it in more detail later but the tracking shot through the bars at the end of the film is the greatest single shot in Antonioni’s career (even if he did the best work of his career on the whole in the 60’s), and among the greatest single shots in cinema history
Nicholson said Antonioni regarded actors as moving space and nothing more
The famous (and perplexingly brilliant) shot is actually the penultimate shot setting up the final shot—it was shot at dusk only in the magic hour to avoid shadows and clocks in at seven minutes.
Alienation and identity themes- so layered and rich
Dazzling location shooting in Spain in the back half of the film, the flats in London, African desert opening
Again and again (what a formal construct) each actor is framed in a huge amount of open space
Antonioni refuses to make this about plot- there’s a narrative here but it’s not his focus- again- in the hands of De Palma this is pure suspense. Not saying one is right or wrong- just style is how you tell the story- not what the story is about
The film actually opens in medias res—Nicholson’s Locke is lost—his car breaks down and we pan across the vastness of the desert
Again, sound like Patricia Highsmith on paper—takes a dying man’s identity
Bravado sequence–voiceover of a past conversation between Nicholson’s Locke and the man he takes the Robertson character he takes the identity of. While in the present tense showing Jack switching the photos in the passports—then we pan over to the open window of the two men talking in a flashback. An amazing shot/sequence—Jack goes off frame in the flashback, talking, then pans to him in the present committing this crime with no shirt on visibly different
Yellow and green doors in the hotel
Left alone in a gaudy church, lost in a sea of apartments, in a cathedral
Hanging over the open water with arms open—stunning visual motifs—and this one was clearly picked up on by PT Anderson for his trademark shot in The Master from 2012.
No musical score
Like all of Antonioni there’s infidelity (Jack’s wife, and then him of course with Maria Schneider)—main characters that disappear or show up later—Maria’s first line is 63 minutes in, gone at 106 minutes in
Architecture as character- the Gaudi building—gorgeous statues used to frame actors—Plaza de La Iglesia – it’s a bit like the opposite of Welles’ The Trial, Red Desert or the Moreau sequences in La Notte with modern architecture destroying characters or closing in on them— this is open—lost in it
After saying goodbye to Maria, Jack in white backdrop, green shutters, green plant—stunning- 107 minutes in
Another breathtaking shot- 111 min in—mirror work in hotel
The finale is genius—you cannot escape fate—slow moving tracking shot, there are bars which create the framing, the old man, the dog, the kid, Maria showing up again, police coming in, the sound design is impeccable- recalls Cuaron’s Roma— we have the beautiful structure as a backdrop. The camera moves out into the street through the bars, pivots, goes back through the bars to show death, fate, certainty—again, one of cinema’s great shots
The credits roll on the next shot which is the hotel on the right half of the frame and dusk on the left
I feel like this film was a significant influence on Raiders of the Lost Ark and the subsequent Indiana Jones films.
Now, don’t get me wrong, these films are pretty different (The Passenger is much more of a work of art but I’m not knocking Raiders which is a MP that I love), but I do think there are similarities:
The dynamic between Nicholson and Schneider reminds me of the dynamic between Indy and Marion in Raiders, with a guy sort of on the run from evil forces (though I don’t think they totally match up; Indy is trying to get to the Ark of the Covenant and Locke is trying to escape his entire life). Additionally, the main character is kinda two-sided in both. Indy is a university professor, but spends almost all of his screen time hunting for artifacts across the world, and Locke starts out as his real self, a documentary filmmaker named Locke and then spends the rest of his screen time as an arms dealer named Robinson. Additionally, both have a female helper and lover who is significantly younger than them and despite having little reason to do so she goes with them anyway through everything. Then of course there’s that a lot of the film is shot in rural desert locations just like in Raiders but that might be grasping at straws. I don’t know. I first thought of Badlands while watching and then Raiders came to mind. I don’t think the two share a lot thematically or even stylistically but it’s a thought.
About The Passenger itself, incredible! I actually think it might be better than L’Avventura which would make it Antonioni’s second best work behind the incredible Red Desert. That penultimate shot is one of the finest displays of camera movement I’ve ever seen in any film; utterly striking and brilliant. I’d hesitate to call it a tracking shot however since even though it is on a dolly it’s not really following anything in particular. I thought the sequence at the beginning combining the conversation between Locke and Robertson and Locke’s assumption of Robertson’s identity was incredible as well; so ambitious and so well-executed. I think there’s a case for this being the best film starring Jack Nicholson but I still think it’s The Shining.
I feel like this film was a significant influence on Raiders of the Lost Ark and the subsequent Indiana Jones films.
Now, don’t get me wrong, these films are pretty different (The Passenger is much more of a work of art but I’m not knocking Raiders which is a MP that I love), but I do think there are similarities:
The dynamic between Nicholson and Schneider reminds me of the dynamic between Indy and Marion in Raiders, with a guy sort of on the run from evil forces (though I don’t think they totally match up; Indy is trying to get to the Ark of the Covenant and Locke is trying to escape his entire life). Additionally, the main character is kinda two-sided in both. Indy is a university professor, but spends almost all of his screen time hunting for artifacts across the world, and Locke starts out as his real self, a documentary filmmaker named Locke and then spends the rest of his screen time as an arms dealer named Robinson. Additionally, both have a female helper and lover who is significantly younger than them and despite having little reason to do so she goes with them anyway through everything. Then of course there’s that a lot of the film is shot in rural desert locations just like in Raiders but that might be grasping at straws. I don’t know. I first thought of Badlands while watching and then Raiders came to mind. I don’t think the two share a lot thematically or even stylistically but it’s a thought.
About The Passenger itself, incredible! I actually think it might be better than L’Avventura which would make it Antonioni’s second best work behind the incredible Red Desert. That penultimate shot is one of the finest displays of camera movement I’ve ever seen in any film; utterly striking and brilliant. I’d hesitate to call it a tracking shot however since even though it is on a dolly it’s not really following anything in particular. I thought the sequence at the beginning combining the conversation between Locke and Robertson and Locke’s assumption of Robertson’s identity was incredible as well; so ambitious and so well-executed. I think there’s a case for this being the best film starring Jack Nicholson but I still think it’s The Shining.
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Hey @Drake,
What do you think of Maria Schneider in the movie?
@M*A*S*H – I do not have specific thoughts here beyond this page or the 1975 page.