The Passenger (1975)

Directed by Michelangelo Antonioni.
Starring Jack Nicholson and Maria Schneider.

In a Nutshell: A journalist steals the identity of a look-alike and goes on the run.

David Locke (Jack Nicholson) is a man of emptiness. An unremarkable journalist, we meet him hopelessly interviewing guerilla rebels in the Sahara desert. Little awaits him at home save a loveless marriage and irksome producer (Ian Hendry). Locke briefly befriends an Englishman named Robertson who later dies of a heart attack. Possessing an uncanny resemblance to Robertson, Locke switches identities and leaves the country. He discovers that Robertson was a gun dealer for the guerillas. But Locke has no intentions to exploit and ends up stuck with the baggage of Robertson’s past life. After meeting with an enigmatic young woman (Maria Schneider), Locke runs away. Though he desires to leave behind his marriage, his job and Robertson’s opponents, Locke seeks out the chance to live as another persona and fade into the distance.

As a thriller, one could accuse The Passenger of its meandering pace, but the film does not seek to create urgency. Long, expansive and silent shots present Locke’s world with ethereal disconnect. This world is still as lonely and empty as before. Locke’s future becomes fated for collapse, as he vainly tries to leave both identities behind. Taking on Robertson’s life becomes less an escape and more an imprisonment as he ends up with a new problems and a new sense of meaninglessness. Michelangelo Antonioni distances us from really “knowing” Locke’s character, and audience sympathy is purposefully neglected. We only observe.

But who is the titular passenger? When Locke comes across Schneider’s character, he abandons Robertson’s identity, leaving this unnamed girl the only real presence between them. Antonioni disconnects us from Locke; only the girl can bear witness to Locke. Without her, Locke and “Robertson” would cease to exist. What Locke attempts is a release from everyday constructs, to fade into his own insignificance, to escape his own fate. But Locke never achieves it. The Passenger is simply that need to liberate oneself from existence, even if we are all just passengers to that journey.