The Passenger (1975 film)

The Passenger Italian Professione reporter is a 1975 film directed by Michelangelo Antonioni. Written by Mark Peploe, Peter Wollen and Antonioni, the film is about an AngloAmerican journalist, David Locke Jack Nicholson who assumes the identity of a dead businessman while working on a documentary in Chad, unaware that he is impersonating an arms dealer with connections to the rebels in the current civil war. Costarring Maria Schneider, The Passenger was the final film in Antonionis threepicture deal with producer Carlo Ponti and MetroGoldwynMayer, after Blowup and Zabriskie Point, and competed for the Palme dOr at the Cannes Film Festival.

Locke decides to switch identities with Robertson he is tired of his work, his marriage and his life, and sees an opportunity for a fresh start. Posing as Robertson, Locke reports his own death Locke at the front desk, where the hotel manager mistakes Locke for Robertson, and the plan goes off without a hitch.In London, Lockes wife Rachel Jenny Runacre has been having an affair. She feels guiltridden and torn when she is informed of her husbands death. She approaches Lockes friend, Martin Ian Hendry, a producer at the BBC, in an attempt to get in touch with Robertson so that she may learn more about her husbands last days. Meanwhile Robertson Locke has flown off to Europe with the dead mans belongings, including his appointment book. ........

Source: Wikipedia