In the future, spaceship Avalon is set to travel 120 years to planet Homestead II, carrying 5,000 passengers who are in hibernation and will only wake up upon arrival. However, when Jim wakes up from hibernation, he is shocked to find he is the only one to do so, due to a malfunction, and that there are still 90 more years until they reach Homestead II. After spending a year in solitude on board, he decides to wake up an attractive woman, Aurora, to have company. At first, they fall in love, but upon finding out, Aurora resents him since they cannot get back to hibernation. When a Captain wakes up as well, he determinea an asteroid damaged the ship. The Captain dies, but Aurora and Jim are able to repair the reactor. 88 years later, the crew wakes up, and find Aurora’s chronicles of her life with Jim on the spaceship during that time.
"Passengers" are a rather unusual blend of Bunuel’s "The Exterminating Angel" and Dudok de Wit's "The Red Turtle" set in space, a meditation on two people stuck in an "isolation existence" and yet still trying to make the best out of their confined lives. There are some thoughtful observations in the story: one is that a shared bad fate is made bearable, the other is that sacrifice can make a difference for someone else, even if the one making it will inevitably lose a future. The ‘kammerspiel’ works at some moments, though one has to wonder at how bad the design of the spaceship is: why have a hibernation pod that cannot put people back into sleep once they wake up? It makes no sense. It is akin to a car that, once its engine is turned off, cannot ignite anymore. Furthermore, it is puzzling why the flight crew would be in a sealed off chamber, seperate from the rest of the passengers, that cannot be accessed. The counterargument would be for security reasons, yet at least a part of the technicians should have been there to contact in case of an emergency. While a lot in the story is contrived in order for the forced set up to start, it does pose some interesting questions about life, and has a few expressionistic images (for instance, when the spaceship falls into zero gravity, the entire water in the pool flies up, carrying Aurora in the bubble). Unfortunately, the film hasn’t got much inspiration, and a lot of the dialogues are written without much effort, since they are bland, routine and schematic. The ending is surprisingly fascinating, though an entire movie could have been made on that abridged segment which is just mentioned off screen.
Grade:++
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