The Passion of Martin 1991

Martin, a lonely photographer, drifts through life in solitude and feels that everything reduces to base animal nature. At a quiet gallery opening, he notices a woman observing his work; that person, Rebecca, studies a photograph he regards as especially meaningful, and for a brief moment his life seems to gain real meaning.

Later, at a wedding he is hired to photograph, he encounters her again. They talk openly, and he admires her strong mind and personality. They spend the night together, and he believes he has found his soulmate; but in the morning she disappears, leaving only a simple note with a phone number.

His initial optimism quickly shifts toward obsession as he calls but does not receive the warm response he hoped for. He tracks her down to her address in the phone book and secretly waits outside her apartment building, watching as she returns home with another man and spending the whole night there, his longing mixing with a growing disgust.

The next day she visits his apartment and cooks dinner, and a confrontation about the other man, Peter, follows. Their disagreement centers on different perceptions of human nature and relationships, and in a tense moment he overpowers her and forces her to say that she loves him, after which she escapes when she can.

On the following day he tracks down Peter’s address from a roommate and drives toward their lunch date. His car runs out of gas on the way, and in a desperate bid to stop them, he pushes a large boulder off a cliff onto the road, inadvertently hitting the car in which she is riding.

In the final scene, Rebecca is shown immobile and connected to life-support equipment, while Martin calmly states that they have been together for a year.