The Passenger Michaelangelo Antonioni 1975




I adore this movie. I've seen it several times now: once on a really bad pan and scan VHS tape from the library about 6 years ago, then when it was theatrically released I saw it twice in the theater. Then I bought the DVD and have watched it 2 or 3 times at home.



It's about a man running from his identity and his life. An interesting twist on the familiar Hitchcockian "wrong man" scenario where the protagonist is typically trying to reclaim his identity. (The 39 Steps, North by Northwest, Saboteur, etc.)






There's a bunch of absolutely beautiful footage taken in Barcelona amongst the Gaudi buildings.






Antonioni is often noted for having achieved a new cohesion of narrative and visual stylistic devices in cinema. His images are often direct examples of the themes of the story, rather than metaphors or symbols of those themes.





One particular example that appears in most of his films is his "non-communication" shot, seen below. Here, usually a couple is shot holding a conversation with both actors facing the camera and gazing off towards opposite points. Usually the shot is held for a long time. Many critics feel this is Antonioni's visual-cinematic example of humanity's basic inability to communicate or to really know each other. Contrast this to the classical Hollywood "shot counter-shot" style of shooting conversation: with the camera going back and forth shooting over each actor's shoulder while the other actor speaks, usually making direct eye contact the whole time.






Antonioni's "non-communication" shot.

The film's penultimate scene is impossible to really put into words, it's one of the most brilliant shots I've ever seen in the cinema. In one take Antonioni beautifully sums up the film's core narrative and thematic concepts in purely visual terms.

As we slowly move from here...

to here.


Amazing. Rest in Peace Michaelangelo.