Customer Reviews
best film of the 1970s? - By: HJ, 02 Nov 2007 
A jaded journalist steals another man's identity & gets embroiledin arms trafficking connected to North African liberation movements.
In the early 1970s there were many attempts to fuse the European art house movie with the Hollywood thriller - The Passenger is probably the most successful example, though today it will probably appeal to art house cinephiles more than to fans of typical Jack Nicholson blockbusters.
Antonioni was never better - almost every shot & frame is extraordinary butin an unostentatious way (not always the case with Antonioni!). The entire complicated final scene seems to be filmedin one long circular take, which will have technical types wondering how it was done. The plot, narrative & dialogue are as focused as any "New Hollywood" film from the period (eg Scorcese). Jack Nicholson gives an acting masterclass - the lengthy scene where he steals the dead man's identity shows all the complex thoughts & considerations involved - but all without words. Maria Schnieder replays her Last Tangoin Paris role here & Ian Hendry turnsin a perfect performance (as he usually did).
The film also touches on "third world" & "post colonial" political issuesin a provocatively non-judgemental way that is still relevant.
The Passenger was out of circulationin the cinema for many years for mysterious reasons & it's wonderful to have it back on this DVD, which also includes 2 commentaries from Nicholson & Peploe (but unfortunately not from Peter Wollen). I'd say The Passenger is one of the very best films of the 1970s - for me it stands up better than Last Tango...
You need a big screen! - By: J. Preece, 17 Aug 2007 
I saw thisin the cinema. I had no idea what to expect. It was fabulous. I loved every minute, & when I came out I felt I had been through a complete experience - i felt I had beenin the cinema for days.
That's why I can understand people who are disappointed & frustrated by it. It's made for cinema, not TV, & DVD just ain't the same. I can give it only four stars - unless you've got a private Odeonin your mansion,in which case it's five.
Antonioni's films are slow, but he was the last great European filmmaker who understood the medium. In these days of push-button editing the chance for viewers to immerse themselvesin long, single shots are gone, & with them the nature of the art.
How films are made - By: Alan Tucker, 29 Jan 2007 Apart from the superb film itself there are two 'commentaries' on this disc, one a run-through of the film with Jack Nicholson talking about his view of it as a masterpiece, describing some of his experiences while making the film, with some asides about Antonioni for whom he obviously has great admiration & affection. Similarly there is another run-through with the script-writer, Mark Peploe (who also wrote the original story). Though rather hesitant & understated, this is also worth-while.
For the student of film or for those of us who just love film as an art, this is an absolutely essential DVD. If the film at first seems slow & confused, stay with it, watch it again, play Nicholson's commentary. The experience will relive itselfin your mind's eye with more & more understanding & pleasure.
Antonioni's musings? - By: Simple Man, 20 Nov 2006 
Well after the Nicholson character has taken the identity of a gun runner he receives a message telling him that he may bein danger. His response is "Why is that?"
With the character being so dumb, how necessary to our lives are "Antonioni's existential musings, philosophy & a number of themes relating to identity, disatisfaction & destiny"?
Still I was impressed at how narrow were Nicholson's hips.
A Truly Flawed Masterpiece - By: P. V. Oldham, 17 Nov 2006 'The Passenger'is the very essence of quiet, profound filmaking. Elliptical, incrediby ambiguous & with a noirish storyline that discards the importance of plot for the existential philosophies that such a story can open up to. Often I have wondered why such a film has been so badly neglected & forgotten (it wasn't avaliablein the UK on either VHS or DVD formats).
The story is refreshingly simple, leaving Antonioni to practically do whatever he wants with it artistically without once being restricted. Nicholson plays David Locke, a successful journalist following the story of a group of rebelsin a remote North African area. Through the opening sequences we are presented with a sense of disorientation, dissatisfaction & confusionin the character (not once through conversation or voiceover but through his actions, his facial expressions, mannerisms & the importance of the vast landscapes caught through each camera shot). In the hotel room next to his he finds a man with a vague resemblance to himself dead. He assumes the man's identity & through informationin the man's diary decides to pretend to be him, only later discovering the man is a gun runner dealing with some ruthless criminals. On the run from the British Embassy & the gun runners Nicholson finds himselfin Spain where he meets Maria Schneider's character, an anonymous tourist who he decides can help him hide from his pursuers.
The story is fantastic, with definite space for existential musings, philosophy & a number of themes relating to identity, disatisfaction & destiny. However, it is how Antonioni is attempting to impart these messages where the film ultimately fails. The first of the two fatal flaws of 'The Passenger' is that it is trying to be too intelligent. The inclusion of London settings with Locke's wife & a whole host of posh nit-wits making a documentary on his life add nothing whatsoever to the plot & really only resultin too many tedious & annoying scenes that completely ruin the mood of the film & the attachment we should be making to the protagonist. Flashbacks of Nicholson interviewing Witch doctors & rebel leaders while his wife is mincing aroundin the background obviously impart the estrangement between them but alienate the viewer from the story & the essence of alienation the film is ultimately attempting to impart.
Many believe Antonioni is discarding the need for plotin this film, but ultimately I believe that the mechanics of the plot he has annoyingly added have ruined what the film may have been: An absolute masterpiece. The British perspectivein the film has ruined it & taken away the existential tone & the edge that extended concentration on Nicholson's character may have brought to the film.
The second flawin the film is Nicholson's performance, but this is not actually his fault. The nitty-gritty flashbacks, the completely pretentious inclusion of footage of innocent civilians being shot etc. & the occasionally completely tedious camerawork do not give him space to establish his character. As a true devotee of Nicholson's earlier film 'Five Easy Pieces' (his finest performancein a true existentialist masterpiece), i noticed that he just didn't bring the same dimension to David Locke as he did to Robert Dupea- & yet both men are running away from something. 'Five Easy Pieces' had brooding long camera shots, scenes with little or no dialogue, & very little plot significance, but it completely draws youin & makes you feel the character's pain & tribulation. 'The Passenger' does not do this. Too many scenes slip by without any edge or emapthy, too many scenes have Maria Schneider speaking artsy drivel that is uninspired. Nicholson could really have made the film his own, but the fact is Antonioni has not granted him the privilege of simply acting. There are a few bursts of brilliant, underplayed performance towards the beginning of the film & the end (the Yugoslavian Chapel scene must also be applauded), but otherwise he wanders around stifled & asleep.
Finally, 'The Passeneger', although flawed, contains moments of incredible beauty, of technically superb direction, & it leaves you asking a huge number of questions once it has finished. The film's end left me breathless, disorientated & ever so slightly melancholy. The seven minute zoom shot with Nicholson on the bed & all of the myths that surround it (it is so completely ambiguousin plot &in message, left entirely to the viewer to decide what has happened)leave you completelyin awe. Few films have ever left it to the sub-conscience & the subliminal to lead you towards the conclusion. Intelligent, ethereal, poignant & impossible. Classic.
