Bertolucci’s plot almost immediately begins to fragment around its narrator, who is not so much unreliable as he is too calmly convinced of himself and what he knows. So as he prepares to assassinate the professor, he’s extremely self-aware about his plan and how he fits into it - or so he thinks. Traumatized by his crime and by his budding sexual desires, he ran straight into the arms of Italian fascism and into his hollow marriage with Giulia, all of which he hoped will give him the appearance of normalcy he seeks. Marcello has spent his life fleeing from a traumatic childhood episode in which a halting sexual encounter with a young male soldier gave way to terror, leading Marcello to shoot and kill the soldier and then flee the scene. To carry out his mission, he decides to take his new wife Giulia ( Stefania Sandrelli) to Paris to visit his former teacher, where he uses the excuse to get closer to his former professor, Quadri, and his beautiful young wife, Anna. Through flashbacks interspersed with the build-up to the resolution of this murder plot, we learn about Marcello’s life, the events that led up to his decision to join the fascist party, and the events following his dispatch to kill the professor. As part of his service, Marcello is ordered to assassinate an enemy - a man who happens to be his old university professor. In the years leading up to World War II, the main character, Marcello Clerici ( Jean-Louis Trintignant), is a member of the Italian fascist organization. The film’s plot is very straightforward, except for all the ways in which it’s not. The Conformist announces exactly what it’s about through its morally bankrupt main character ![]() Bertolucci combines a flawless aesthetic with a deep emphasis on composition, design, and camerawork to slowly build a devastating portrait of the kind of personality that allows fascism to flourish. Rather, it’s a case study in how to build a deep narrative using all the elements of cinema to tell an unforgettable story. ![]() And above all, it’s incredibly beautiful, full of stunning, arresting visuals and patterns that deserve to be seen in a cinema.īut The Conformist isn’t notable merely for its aesthetic and filmmaking techniques. Its cinema techniques are stark and distinctive, making it a textbook film, in many ways, for students looking to learn the craft. The film has been cited by major directors from the Coen brothers to Francis Ford Coppola and Steven Spielberg as a significant influence in their own work. Nearly 50 years after its 1970 release, The Conformist is still frequently screened in arthouses, and for good reason. Best known for his later, more widely successful works like The Last Emperor and Last Tango in Paris, the director will be remembered for both his cohesive cinematic vision and for his appalling approach to the latter film’s most notorious scene, which has justifiably tainted his legacy.īut Bertolucci’s greatest achievement is one of his earliest, most influential films - and despite the troubled aspects of his career, its blistering political statement and gorgeous cinematic technique are still worth talking about today. The late filmmaker Bernardo Bertolucci was an undisputed master of cinema.
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