Beyond the Bars | The Passenger Video Essay

[@maxwellcouturefilms]

using this space to talk about anything movies is a great time so feel free to comment follow me on letterboxd - letterboxd.com/max584/

[@threelegmonster]

Poetic. Simple plot , yet poignant insights brought out by enigmatic usage of motion picture and acoustic guitar.

[@alpha1dcd]

I first saw this movie, alone in the theatre, in what was probably its initial theatrical release, in Minneapolis in 1975. I left the theatre in a mind fog, the world seeming to move at the pace of the penultimate scene. I have told many people about this movie over the years. I saw it again on VHS or DVD sometime ago to refresh myself and am watching it now on KZbin. Roger Ebert said that one of his favorite scenes was that of Maria Schneider facing toward road falling away behind the car, with her hair blowing in the wind against the background of the oncoming trees. Thanks for your insightful commentary.

[@maxwellcouturefilms]

I’m very happy I could add something to the conversation some 40 odd years later. But I mostly am amazed to meet someone who watched its initial release and who has loved this movie for much longer than I have. All the best.

[@stopthephilosophicalzombie9017]

What a powerful way to experience this film, especially given the themes of isolation and existential angst. No wonder you were in a fog. It was as if you were in an experiment with the film itself. I bet Antonini would be overjoyed you had that experience.

[@eusoukravezuk]

The first time I watched The Passenger I was fascinated by two things: the astonishing cinematography and how the movie sort of estabilishes the emptyness of the existence without saying a clear word about that. It's like Antonioni's trying to express that life doesn't have an objective meaning, no matter how hard you try to find it. We are doomed on our own anxieties and we can't reach the "external world". By the way, your videos are amazing. I watched this one 'till the end and I was surprised when you said over 17 minutes have passed by :) Greetings from Brazil!

[@maxwellcouturefilms]

Greetings from Canada! Astonishing cinematography and communicating without saying a clear word. Great observations. I agree, its a very affecting film and it hits on all those points. The film struggles with that sense of self in opposition of the "external world" as you put it and that can be very sad but also very freeing. I always feel a little more comfortable sitting in silence afterwards and just being present and grounded. Which I think is important. I appreciate your time, the comment and the kind words. I hope to make more videos as much as I can. Cheers!

[@suatustel746]

Well said. ..... He was, a great director.

[@mydearReginald]

I loved your reading of the film. Thank you so much. Especially in the two scenes--the girl looking back, but looking towards us, the audience, while the time motions and moves forward. And the muted scene becomes even more emphatically audible in the cable car. both scenes carried by and in the machines, we'd expect loud noises but the sound goes internal. For me, it's the girl's powerful "yes"--as if the scene echoes Peter's denial (the wife: I never knew him), but the girl's pithy "yes" revokes and upends the solemn betrayal, and even further, the banal, tragic ending--because now we end with yes (the positive ID, as "yes, I do recognize him") and as though she will never stop looking backward she will move forward with the positive memory, that she once knew him, that maybe there's hope that there is someone out there who will meet us and identify us, even after the movie ends. The ending credit is the photograph of a place we have once been or at least seen on some postcard, and the way the camera lovingly stays there somehow gives me hope, a kind of kindling, a kind of "yes, someone will remember us, someone will remember this place, this ending, even after the end.

[@JELLY_BEAN]

So glad you were able to make this video. This is one of my favorite films, and your observations bring out things I didn't notice and many things I didn't know with regards to the director. Love the content!

[@brandonhamaguchi]

I liked when the policeman asks Do you know him, and his wife answers I never know him, meaning that she never really known who his husband was, they were totally disconnected and he take the opportunity to leave that situation with the identity swap, but in the end, as you said, wherever you go, there you are, in this case laying on a bed, dead

[@ashleyupshall7641]

This is basically an existential film if you touch on existentialism it runs parallel with the basics of the philosophy. How to remain authentic in an absurd world.

[@davidkerr1990]

Just watched this film yesterday, having not seen it for many years. And I am reeling over the profound impact it's had upon me. Indeed, the film is amongst my list of the top ten films of all time. The analysis by the author of this video essay is absolutely spot-on. Every thinking, feeling individual needs to experience this film in their lifetime.

[@maxwellcouturefilms]

Thank you so much for the kind words. I’m a big fan of the film myself.

[@davidb5711]

I’m saw Blow Up several times 3 decades ago and never saw another Antonioni film until seeing this one today. I enjoyed it, and your commentary. I love how the film breathes with its pacing - Feels more real and worthy of our engagement. Strange how Schneider’s character (situationally) is so much like her’s in Last Tango.

[@user-zu9hq5ik6l]

アントニオーニの映画はほぼ観たけど、これが一番印象深い。

[@rickfallis9398]

Yes, I enjoyed this very much. I've watched The Passenger more time than probably any other film. I'm mesmerized with each viewing. Thank you for this.

[@griggsz9649]

Thank you I watched this movie being a huge fan of jack and was so confused as to what the meaning of this film was and you summed it up best this movie is portraying the question of whats the meaning of life and existential crisis. The king of Marvin gardens is one of my favorites for that same reason alone, great video!

[@groundzerorocks]

Thanks for making the video. You come across movies like this every now and then that really stick with you. & I think you know things aren't gunna be good the first time you get a look at those bars.

[@thezieg]

David (Hume) / (John) Locke: British empiricists, for whom only observable experience matters in constructing meaning, embodied in a British man raised in America, a nation in which self-reinvention amd escaping one's past is an obsession.

[@Johnconno]

Nicholson bought this, he does a pretty good narration over the DVD if you can get hold of a copy.

[@RE4SHADOW]

I enjoyed your analysis of this film more than the film itself. In the ending, I thought one of the two men who arrived at the Hotel killed Locke before the police arrived. Maybe I got that part wrong. I don't care to go back and watch this film to figure it out. You are correct in using the work pretentious to describe this movie.

[@jlg5967]

The girl is Daisy otherwise why does he keep bumping into her?

[@wodzekleaf]

Great video, finally somebody explained this movie to me. Sub

[@laurareeves9754]

I enjoyed everything. Thank you. Just curious if you would ever do an essay on Zabriskis Point.

[@victoryak86]

I was confused at how he died at the end.

[@sznoman]

I needed this

[@Jamie-bu9cq]

Thanks for the review. I just finished watching the film. I don't think I cared for it much, but as a fan of film I'm glad to have seen it. Edit: oh yes, I agree about the shot you liked. FWIW, my favorite moment of the film came near the beginning when he waved to the camel guy and the guy just kept on going.

[@maxwellcouturefilms]

Haha that’s a good moment. I liked a little later when he’s banging his shovel against the side of the truck.

[@MrTheBest247]

Great video and a great follow up after watching the film blindly - got me to buy the DVD to watch more in the future. I know these videos take some time to make, so do you have a Letterboxd to follow or list of other favorite films/directors?

[@maxwellcouturefilms]

Thank you, these videos do take some time and I’m in school so I don’t have a ton of time (I got a video coming out soon). I’m really happy to hear it helped you appreciate The Passenger though. My letterboxd is Max584. If you like Antonioni then Edward Yang (Taipei Story) is another great watch. I really like L’avventura, Badlands, Kings of the Road and The Friends of Eddie Coyle which are all a little similar to The Passenger in some ways. And likewise if you have a film that you wanna recommend let me know.

[@cakeorpurse]

Thanks for this video, I watched the movie it last night for the first time and it's stayed with me. I love that scene in the gondola as well, I can't help but think of jack Nicholson in easy rider on the motorbike (if you want to be a bird playing)..let me know if you know what I mean! Thanks again :)

[@maxwellcouturefilms]

It’s crazy but I still haven’t seen Easy Rider. I love Dennis Hopper too! Jack Nicholson has a great muted performance in 5 easy pieces so I’ll be thinking of that. Thanks for the comment.

[@cakeorpurse]

@@maxwellcouturefilms definitely check easy rider out it's such a great movie (the soundtrack alone is worth the watch imo). I love Dennis Hopper too! I saw The American Friend recently, a really good movie :)

[@maxwellcouturefilms]

I will definitely get to Easy Rider asap. Glad to meet someone with similar taste haha

[@cakeorpurse]

@@maxwellcouturefilms me too! Do you have mubi ? I would love to follow

[@maxwellcouturefilms]

@cherbourgdoll Unfortunately I don't, I do have letterboxd though. Max584.

[@7Worker7699]

I watched this all the way through hoping to maybe get some insight into this very interesting and very frustrating movie--when you said "I don't know what I'm talking about," I know that's being honest and I really appreciate that but I felt sucker punched all the same--The caliber of film comment or analysis is pretty awful these days and I feel like that has something to do why movies have gotten so awful--have people just given up thinking ?

[@lastunctives2095]

Yeah pretty much .

[@stopthephilosophicalzombie9017]

I watched this film last night and it gave me a panic attack.

[@maxwellcouturefilms]

I’m sorry to hear that. It’s a very affecting and existential film for myself. Hope you’re feeling better.

[@stopthephilosophicalzombie9017]

@@maxwellcouturefilms I loved it really, it just resembled some struggles in my own life in an uncanny way. I wonder how he got the camera to "go through" the bars in that last shot. Apparently Antonini built the hotel outside that bullring for the ending shot.

[@randomoverpopulatedworldid3286]

I tried to watch this and was totally NOT feeling it until the guy died. then you start the loose patience for a while. until the middle. everyone is skinny. but... you don't do anything but feel. you do not know. it's so obvious as a tourist movie. He got himself in too deep and decided to take himself out. period.

[@stopthephilosophicalzombie9017]

He was murdered by the government hitmen who were trying to stop his assumed identity's arms dealing. He didn't kill himself exactly (though he had to know he was in danger).

[@marcballantyne5277]

I saw The Passenger for the first time just a few days ago at Bfi Southbank in London and it has stayed with me in a way that not many movies do. I think this is partly to do with the slow pacing. As a viewer, your eyes are allowed to really linger on each scene, each shot. This is hardly ever possible in present day movies, which are cut so fast that your eyes are never allowed to linger on anything for more than a fraction of a second. I think it is best to let Antonioni's movies just unfold. Be open to the experience. Your video has given me some interesting and useful clues but it is futile and pointless to try to "explain " art. To explain it is to kill it. Once a piece of art has been "explained", once its "meaning" is set, individual subjective viewings and reactions become redundant, and viewing becomes merely an exercise in conforming to the a preset interpretation. It is dead.

[@annieyesiam2758]

i kinda dislike how the girl is portrayed as if she's not even a person it reminds me of how some men see women

[@billadams2232]

I agree that she is not portrayed as a person, but perhaps she has the role of an angel helping him get to Glory (Gloria)? San Miguel (St Michael the archangel) is prominently featured on the bus taking her to the hotel near the end. The couple first speak in the Gaudi house in Barcelona ("hit by a bus" or angel if you will). Gaudi was known as God's architect and was a devout Catholic. Another clue is the bar with the Fatima sign displayed on the exterior. They were receiving directions. If you know anything about the Fatima apparitions of the Virgin Mary, an angel was prominently involved. My take is that it's about a man in the process of going to heaven. My 2 cents. Amazing film in any case.

[@awesomethang1328]

when are u gonna make a film of ur own

[@maxwellcouturefilms]

Don’t you worry, it’s in the works

[@maxwellcouture8870]

My favorite video yet!

[@maxwellcouturefilms]

I’m proud of this one myself, thank you!