How I love thee – let me count the ways. I enjoyed this film so much more than Blow-Up, which I recently re-watched (though I hardly dislike Blow-Up, just in comparison).
That last scene; the camera somehow leaving the bars on the hotel room window and turning around to show the hotel; that long, long shot… It is as astounding as (if not actually directly influenced by) the opening shot of Touch of Evil, but of course in Antonioni’s style; not a single word by the characters can be overheard. Even Maria Schneider’s last line, which is so key to the film, is barely perceptible.
I didn’t listen to the commentary by Nicholson, except for that last shot, in which he does indeed explain one of the most famous and puzzling shots ever put down, supposing that Anonioni wouldn’t mind. So it’d be worth renting just for that I think. He also says that it was shot that way because Antonioni “didn’t want to film a death scene.” Continue reading The Passenger (1975)