[Quick Summary: A journalist takes over the identity of a dead hotel neighbor, who turns out to be an hunted arms dealer.]
Why is "The Girl" here not a throw away stereotype, though her main purpose is essentially to look after and assist Locke?
I think it's because she engages him like a good tennis partner, batting the dialogue back over the net. She also requires him to be in the present, not the past or future.
The scene below is their first meeting. Notice how quickly he tells her the truth.
46. A long room - Palacio Guell. Interior. Day.
...LOCKE: Excuse me, I'm trying to remember something.
GIRL (very naturally): Is it important?
LOCKE: No.
The Girl reacts to Locke with an absolute directness, and with an unusual absence of embarrassment.
LOCKE: Do you know what it is? I came in by accident.
GIRL: The man who built it was hit by a tram.
LOCKE: Who was he?
GIRL: Gaudi. He built this house for a corduroy manufacturer.
She gets up.
GIRL: Come.
They enter a big salon.
GIRL: They used this room for concerts. Wagner.
LOCKE: Do you think he was crazy?
GIRL: What do you think?
LOCKE: No, he wasn't.
She looks at him and laughs easily.
GIRL: How could you come in here by accident?
LOCKE: I was escaping.
GIRL (deadpan): Wow...(then seriously) From what?
LOCKE: I thought there was someone following me, somebody who might recognize me.
GIRL: Why?
LOCKE: I don't know.
GIRL: Well, I can't recognize you. Who are you?
LOCKE: I used to be someone else. But I traded him in. What about you?
GIRL (she smiles ironically): I'm in Barcelona. I'm talking to a man.
Locke smiles at her.
WHAT I'VE LEARNED: I was impressed that "The Girl" was a meaty part. Her only purpose is to help Locke, but that is what SHE wants, not because it's a plot crutch.
The Passenger (1975)
by Marc Peploe, Petter Wollen, and Michelangelo Antonioni
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