Why Bertolucci's The Conformist deserves a

place in cinema history

The Italian director's 1970 expressionist masterpiece offered a blueprint for a
new kind of Hollywood film, which is why Coppola, Spielberg, Scorsese and co
owe him a huge debt

Bernardo Bertolucci's expressionist masterpiece of 1970, The Conformist,

is the movie that plugs postwar Italian cinema firmly and directly into the
emerging 1970s renaissance in Hollywood film-making. Its account of
the neuroses and self-loathing of a sexually confused would-be fascist
(Jean-Louis Trintignant) aching to fit in in 1938 Rome, who is despatched
to Paris to murder his former, anti-fascist college professor, was deemed
an instant classic on release.
It was, and is, a highly self-conscious and stylistically venturesome
pinnacle of late modernism, drawing from the full range of recent Italian
movie history: a little neo-neorealism, a lot of stark and blinding
Antonioni-style mise-en-scne, some moments redolent of Fellini. And it
was all framed within an evocation of the frivolous fascist-era filmmaking style derided by Bertolucci's generation as "white telephone"
cinema. Add a dose of unhealthy sexual confusion and it's hardly
surprising that it was one of the international hits of the year. It also
offered the blueprint for the new wave of Hollywood film-makers to a
different kind of cinema and a roadmap of new formal possibilities not
merely for those of Italian descent such as Francis Coppola and Martin
Scorsese.
To be sure, Coppola's The Godfather, with its operatic qualities, seems on
the surface to have more in common with Visconti's mature work (while
1

the paranoid-realist spirit of Francesco Rosi hovers ever near), but

Bertolucci became friends with Coppola, and his influence is palpably
discernible in the formally adventurous The Godfather: Part II.
Surveillance expert Harry Caul (Gene Hackman) in Coppola's The
Conversation is a repressed Catholic and professional paranoid who has
plenty in common with Trintignant's agonised Marcello Clerici.
Meanwhile, Bertolucci's cinematographer Vittorio Storaro who shot
both The Conformist and Bertolucci's other 1970 masterpiece The
Spider's Stratagem made his American debut on Apocalypse Now, and
has worked with Coppola several times since, as well as remaining
Bertolucci's DP (while also working fitfully for Warren Beatty).
There are other links. Marlon Brando, after completing work on The
Godfather something that reinvigorated his career and sealed his
image as actorly padre padrone to the young ethnic method players who
emerged from the set of that film and thereafter dominated serious
American cinema of the 1970s went straight to work on Bertolucci's Last
Tango in Paris.
Whereas The Godfather's producers had been fearful of Brando's
reputation for destroying big-budget movies with his sheer
unmanageability, and had reined him in accordingly, Bertolucci was the
first director successfully to accord Brando the privilege of near coauthorship: he knew that a creative Brando inside the Bertolucci tent was
better than a destructive one outside. Brando's on-screen successor in the
role of Vito Corleone, Robert De Niro, would follow in Brando's
transatlantic footsteps to play the lead in Bertolucci's socialist-realist
melodrama 1900 (Novecento), in 1976. Another memorable exchange
was the actor Gastone Moschin; having played the fascist operative
Mangianello in The Conformist, he was later cast as Don Fanucci, the
2

comic-opera kingpin of the Black Hand in The Godfather: Part II, a

growlingly menacing portrayal straight out of silent melodrama.
Some aspects of Bertolucci travelled less well. Some of his formal ideas
were greedily consumed by American film-makers, while the radical
politics and pointedly Brechtian alienation techniques were largely
discarded. Thus the emotionally expressive colour scheme of The
Conformist principally evident in the honeymoon train-ride of Clerici
and his blousy new bride, during which insanely unrealistic rearprojection and alternating blue and gold filters throw into doubt the
dependability of Clerici's perceptions are partially replicated in the
colour-scheme of the two sections past and present of The Godfather:
Part II. Its flashback sections are shot in ridiculously warm and nostalgic
golds and sepias (the consoling colours of infantile memory and adult
self-delusion) while the late 1950s present-day is rendered in icily
comfortless blues and greys. Similarly, Taxi Driver's heavy reliance on the
perceptions of Travis Bickle, the least reliable narrator in 1970s cinema, is
evoked using many powerful expressionist effects that Bertolucci had
made his own but, again, with no concomitant importation of his
political radicalism.
And Bertolucci, it turned out, would suffer a similar fate to all his
contemporaries in the "new Hollywood". 1900 brought him closer to the
fretful world of international co-production dictated by the new Italian
film- financing laws enacted at the start of the 70s and interesting
though it remains it stands as Bertolucci's equivalent to the movie
brats' big-budget disasters, the films that knocked them off-course:
Steven Spielberg's 1941, Scorsese's New York New York, William
Friedkin's Sorcerer, even Coppola's Apocalypse
3

Now. And, as happened with Coppola, Bertolucci's work was never again
as interesting or as pioneering afterwards.

The Conformist A Visual Master Class

30 AUGUST 2012 CINEMA MASTERPIECES BY DAVID ZOU
A couple of days ago I re-watched My favorite film from the Italian
Maestro Bernado Bertolucci The Conformist.I was lucky enough to be
introduced to this film in the Alberto Moravia film retrospective in
Beijing,although it was a projection display of poor quality dvd,the
stunning stylish visuals still blew me away. After watching it again,I
would include it in my top 20 films of all time,one of my favorite film
cinematographer Vittorio Storaro left a rich legacy to all the later
cinematographers,it is,in my opinion,one of the best textbooks for
cinematography,because it peaks in so many categories.To pay homage
to this work of visual wonders,I decide to pick some of the most visually
outstanding scenes to analyze the cinematic magic in them.
Lights and Shadows
In this scene with Marcello and his fiancee at home,the stripes of shades
are filtered by the curtains and beautifully reflect on the bodies of the
characters.Vittorio Storaro explains he was using this kind of sharp
contrast of light and shadows to form a cage on the protagonist,which
visualized the conflict inside the character.After Marcello goes to Paris,the
lights start to embrace the shadows and colors appear on the images
too.As the characters psychology changes,so does the light and shadows
around him.
In this famous scene,Marcello visits his former teacher at his home,they
talk about the theory of Platos cave.The story is about many people was
kept prisoners in a cave from the beginning of their lives,and they were
forced to look at the shadows created by the fire outside the cave and
5

moving people and objects passing in front of it,and they believed that
was what real life is.Both Bertolucci and Storaro love this idea and
thought it was a perfect metaphor of the relationship between film-goers
and cinema.In order to create the cave feel of the images,Storaro
refered to a painting called La Vocazione Di San Matteo by the famous
painter Caravaggio,this is one of the rare paintings that have a clear
boundary between light and darkness.Storaro used the exact same idea
to shoot this scene to symbolize the conscience and un- conscience of the
protagonist,he has something to present in front of him,which is the
reality,also he has to hide something inside him.
Storaros lighting is so masterful and stylish and symbolic in this film,I
couldnt list them all here,but allow me to post a still from an interesting
scene.
This is the scene in which the two guys meet secretly,the director
deliberately asked one of the actors to touch the bulb so it would swing
back and forth while the two characters were talking,so the lighting of the
whole scene is switched on and of f back and forth,very interesting
lighting.
The Color Scheme
Its obvious Storaro used three main filters in the film,Blue,Yellow and
White.
Speaking of the brilliance in it and its influence on the upcoming New
Hollywood Cinema,I couldt state it better than John in this article,so Id
better quote the whole paragraph.
Some aspects of Bertolucci travelled less well. Some of his formal ideas
were greedily consumed by American film-makers, while the radical
6

politics and pointedly Brechtian alienation techniques were largely

discarded. Thus the emotionally expressive colour scheme of The
Conformist principally evident in the honeymoon train-ride of Clerici
and his blousy new bride, during which insanely unrealistic rearprojection and alternating blue and gold filters throw into doubt the
dependability of Clericis perceptions are partially replicated in the
colour-scheme of the two sections past and present of The Godfather:
Part II. Its flashback sections are shot in ridiculously warm and nostalgic
golds and sepias (the consoling colours of infantile memory and adult
self-delusion) while the late 1950s present-day is rendered in icily
comfortless blues and greys. Similarly, Taxi Drivers heavy reliance on the
perceptions of Travis Bickle, the least reliable narrator in 1970s cinema, is
evoked using many powerful expressionist effects that Bertolucci had
made his own but, again, with no concomitant importation of his
political radicalism.
Mise-en-scene
Here comes my favorite scene in the film,the dancing scene. The Mise-enscene here is just incredible.Look at how the group of people quickly
form a queue of circles and walk out of the restaurant,then the camera
turns around inside the restaurant,shooting those people outside the
window,then stops at the guy Marcello is about to meet.Then the camera
focused on the two characters with the background of the queue,as the
people is about to come back,they stop talking and the queue enters the
room and circles Marcello in the center,gives us a feeling that the
protagonist is trapped.The choreography and camera movement of the
whole scene is so perfectly designed and executed that this part of the
plot moves so fluently.
7

You can find all kinds of visual brilliance throughout the film,besides all
those mentioned above,Im gonna give you more in set pieces.
The opening sequence,I love how the camera moves up and reveals the
naked body of Marcellos lover. The tilt tracking shot of Marcello walking
to get his mission,reminds me of the tilt shots of The Third Man.
When we are enjoying the flirt scene in the office,the camera suddenly
pulls back and shows how vast this place is.
The camera starts very low,almost tied with the ground,and than pulls up
to shoot the leaves,you can easily find the copy in Coen Brothers Millers
Crossing and Kieslowskis Three Colors Red,which also stars Jean- Louis
Trintignant.
Finally,the hunt for Dominique Sanda character,the hand held camera is
just so shocking,so ahead-its-time and so... right.
Finishing this essay is just like taking notes from one of the greatest
filmmaking lessons,Ive always wanted to write something like this,scene
by scene,pure cinema,Im proud that I pulled it off,and hope you could
watch this film soon after reading this essay,no matter how many times
you have seen it.

The Conformist by Keith Phipps

The past is a slippery thing in Bernardo Bertoluccis 1970 landmark The

Conformist, a film that nests flashbacks within flashbacks until a final
sequence that brings the future crashing down on its eponymous
protagonist. Much of the film unfolds as Marcello (Jean-Louis Trintignant)
rides in a car with Manganiello (Gastone Moschin), setting out from Paris
for the outlying countryside on a misty morning in 1936. Manganiello
works as muscle for the Italian fascists. Marcellos just along for the ride
and to point the finger at Professor Quadri (Enzo Tarascio), an anti-fascist
professor now living in exile in France. The act will define him, but its
also just the most destructive instance of a pattern hes followed for most
of his life. Going along for the ride is what he does. He was a fascist
before he even knew it.
As the ride progresses, Marcello looks back, remembering the
circumstances that put him in the passenger seat, each presented with
the fuzzy edges of a dream. These include a humiliating bullying episode
followed by sexual abuse at the hands of his familys chauffeur, Lino
(Pierre Clmenti), followed by Linos murder at Marcellos own hands. Or
at least thats the way he remembers it. Or maybe the incidents just the
excuse he needs to cloak himself in normality no matter what the cost to
others. He marries Giulia (Stefania Sandrelli), a woman he treasures for
her mediocrity. And when called into service by the men whove assumed
control in the pitiless corridors of power, he does what hes told.
Bertolucci shoots those corridors, and the way they dwarf Marcello as he
walks them, the way he shoots the rest of the film: with an exaggeration
that skirts Expressionism. The film has a dreamlike quality, much of it
courtesy of Vittorio Storaros cinematography. Storaros work here
influenced the look of film for years after The Conformist, but if the
9

restored version of The Conformist overseen by Storaro and Bertolucci

that appears on this new Blu-ray edition reveals anything, its the
undertones teased out by Storaros color scheme. He shoots the past in
blue and gold filters, but the shades always feel slightly off. Its yesteryear
remembered with a combination of nostalgia and repulsion, a queasy
combination that defines the film and gives it a kind of hideous allure.
Adapting a 1951 novel by Alberto Moravia, Bertolucci drops one
memorable setpiece after another: Marcellos visit to the leaf-strewn
grounds of his manor where his mother indulges a morphine addiction, a
trip to a sanitarium to see a syphilis-mad father, a rapturous dance scene
that never escapes the tension underlying the whole film. But its as
much a story about the passage of time, and the way memories cling and
claw, as one about any given moment. Marcello flees the horrors of his
parents only to deliver himself to a much greater horror. Toward the end,
he looks down at his toddler daughter and then walks into the ravaged
Rome he helped create, the one hes leaving to her and others of her
generation. He was just along for the ride, but sometimes its the
passengers that determine the destination.
SPECIAL FEATURES
Only one, apart from the trailer, but its a substantial one, an hourlong
documentary about the film called In The Shade Of The Conformist, which
features an extensive recent interview with Bertolucci.

10

The Conformist (Il Conformista) (1970)

It would be too shallow to call Bernardo Bertolucci's magnum opus "The
Conformist" (1970) a political thriller. It goes way beyond, further
beneath its multiple layers and themes, as Bertolucci, in his terrific
screenplay adapted from the Alberto Moravia novel weaves a meticulous,
highly complex web of deceit and betrayal while presenting us a
character study of a protagonist so extremely ambiguous and
unpredictable, yet one we can all relate to as human beings.
At the center of this almost Shakespearean tragedy is Marcello Clerici
(Jean-Louis Trintignant) a seemingly ordinary man involved with the
Fascist Secret Police under the regime of Benito Mussolini in the 1930s
Italy. He is the textbook example of a reluctant (anti-) hero drawn into
something he doesn't really believe in. Is he really fascist by nature? As
one superior official says, most of them are in it either because they are
afraid or because they are in it for the money! Are there really people
whobelieve in the ideology of Fascism? Clerici has his own strange
reasons to be in the group. He wants to live a normal life. He wants to
conform. And for that, he is turning over a new leaf. He is getting married
to his sweetheart, a cute but dimwitted socialite Giulia (Stefania
Sandrelli). Being in matrimony, having a family, being accepted by
society and having a feeling of being belonged are the criteria for
leading a normal life, they say!
Marcello is sent on a mission to perform a task for his Fascist cause,
pertaining to a certain Professor Quadri (Enzo Tarascio) a staunch antifascist who exiled to Paris. Only Professor Quadri happens to be Clerici's
teacher from Graduate school, one who regarded Clerici very highly as a
11

student. Does Marcello betray his professor? Is he able enough to bear

the cross of the betrayal?
These questions act as devices to drive the plot forward. However,
Bertolucci is more concerned about the dynamics of his characters rather
than the progression and conclusion of the plot at hand. And therefore, in
his extremely intelligent screenplay, he twists Moravia's story in a fashion
so as to take us deeper into the psyche of Marcello and give more
prominence to his character rather than concentrate on the political
intrigue of his Fascist mission.
Marcello's family life is rife with tragedy. Marcello's father is now an old
lunatic who previously worked for the Fascist party. His mother is a loner
who finds solace in morphine and sleeps with any guy who gets her the
stuff. Bertolucci's screenplay, in its very carefully structured non-linear
arrangement, presents snippets of the crucial moments in the life of
Marcello; life-altering events, including a disturbing childhood trauma
involving a chauffeur (Pierre Clementi), which may have shaped him as
the person he has now become. It is no surprise then, that Marcello is
doubly cautious when Special Agent Manganiello (the magnificent
Gastone Moschin) follows him around in a car, and Bertolucci, in an
ingenious filming move, tilts the camera at an angle, an oblique
suggestion that something about this scene is somewhat off-kilter!
Marcello wants to bring order in his life, but of all things he chooses the
Fascist Secret Police and matrimony! But given Marcellos confused state
of mind (even pertaining to his sexuality!), indecision and lack of
confidence, will he be able to pull it off? After all, it isnt difficult to see,
that despite his pseudo-fascist inclinations, the man has a conscience! In
one of the film's best scenes, we see Marcello have a face-off with a priest
12

he confesses to. Being an unbeliever, the confession is of course, just to

satiate his would-be wife Guilia. Bertolucci, in a work of fantastic writing,
brings out the hypocrisies of the church, and the mindset of a society in
general about what constitutes a normal life.
Bertolucci also uses this opportunity to launch a scathing attack on Fascist
ideologies and the shallowness of its politics. However, in a very cunning
move, he refrains from taking sides and distances himself from either
belief! Take for instance that almost surrealist angle of Marcellos friend
Italo (Jose Quaglio), a blind Fascist, also a part of the secret police. He
and his blind comrades throw Marcello a party to wish him well for his
upcoming married life.
It may seem odd that all of them are literally blind, but perhaps they are
emblematic of the sad truth of how politics is usually blindly followed
and that these members of the fascist party are actuallyblinded by their
political leaders into believing something that is extreme and absurd!
The celebration is somewhat awkward with two people picking a fight
and eventually Italo having a talk with Marcello. Italo mentions to him
that they are two of a kind, different from others, and insists that he is
never wrong. In a sharp jab at his claims, Bertolucci concludes this scene
by shifting focus to Italos shoes, which are both of different colours,
indicating they are each from different pairs!
Marcello eventually comes face to face with his old professor. As soon as
Prof. Quardi and Marcello get reacquainted, despite their differing
political views, Quadris faith in Marcello is reignited. They discuss the
allegory of Platos cave and in the dialog that follows, the theory that
"illusions that are the shadows of reality" are akin to the current mindsets
of fascist Italians is established. There are two spectacular shots in this
13

scene, brought about by the use of well thought out lighting effects,
which corroborate the theory of blinding by deception and also at the
same time not entirely vindicating the other side that makes these
claims! Blink and you will miss, how Marcello is demonstrating with the
motion of his hands a huge wall in the discussion of Platos cave and how
his shadow cast behind him resembles the classic pose of a particular
Nazi dictator!
Blame it on the rapid editing, but Bertolucci is in no mood to spoon-feed.
Grasp it or move on! And on the flipside, it is surely not a coincidence that
throughout the scene, we only see a silhouetted professor Quadri, akin to
a shadow, no less! Marcellos reluctance and deviance from a
normalfascist nature is rather obvious and the professor refuses to
believe Marcello is what he says he is. To further confirm his belief, he
even puts him to the test in yet another fantastic piece of writing.
With professor Quadri, Marcello also comes face to face with Anna
(Dominique Sanda), the beautiful young wife of the professor who he
remembers from some previous encounters (could they be visions from
dreams?). Anna is yet another devious character who works in her own
strange ways. With what aim, isn't very particularly clear. But we can only
infer what could possibly be going on in her mind when she attempts to
seduce Guilia as well as Marcello who has very obviously taken an instant
liking to her. A weird game of sexual politics begins, as at one point, even
professor Quadri appears to be propositioning Guilia! So much for
normalcy!
While the astounding cinematography, with fantastic use of lighting and
rich colours, by Vittorio Storaro, greatly beautifies the film, it also serves
as a symbol for the protagonists true state of mind; the changing colours
14

perhaps allude to his inability to conform in any given situation, let alone
his personal life. Georges Delerues original music is spellbinding and it
is especially noteworthy how a somber score that engulfs the atmosphere
every time Marcello is in the frame, and changes to a more flamboyant
and fanfare-like, just as his partner in crime Manganiello appears on
screen!
A remarkable theme in the narrative is also that of doubles and
repetitions. Dominique Sanda who makes a prominent appearance as
Anna appears at least twice in the film before in scenes you might miss in
the initial viewing. And then theres the ubiquitous chauffeur, a dreaded
figure, that makes Marcello rather uncomfortable, be it the man from his
childhood memories or Manganiello or his mothers Japanese chauffeur!
In the films barbaric climax and the shocking epilogue that follows, we
get to witness something totally unexpected and that makes Bertoluccis
film all the more devastating in its final few minutes. It makes a powerful
impact and leaves you emotionally drained, thanks to Bertoluccis potent
storytelling that is complemented by the bravura, realistic performances
by all of the cast. Special mention though is reserved for Jean-Louis
Trintignant in a tour-de-force acting performance that is possibly one of
the greatest in film history, followed closely by Gastone Moschin as the
sly, cold, mocking special agent who sometimes reminds of his famous
Don Fanucci character in The Godfather Part II.
But thats just one of the things that remind us of Francis Ford Coppolas
epic sequel. One cant miss the famous image of autumn leaves blowing
in the wind, a strikingly similar image seen in The Godfather sequel.
Bernardo Bertoluccis "The Conformist" is a miraculous piece of
filmmaking, albeit one that may require multiple viewings to fully grasp
15

and appreciate its finer nuances so carefully embedded within. It carries

an important message amidst all the chaos; one that urges to beware of
the deception of the shadows; learn to see whats real and what is merely
an illusion.
If you havent seen "The Conformist" yet, you dont know what you are
missing.
The Conformist (Italian: Il conformista) is a 1970 political drama directed
by Bernardo Bertolucci. The screenplay was written by Bertolucci based
on the 1951 novel The Conformist by Alberto Moravia. The film stars JeanLouis Trintignant and Stefania Sandrelli, and features Gastone Moschin,
Enzo Tarascio, Fosco Giachetti, Jos Quaglio, Dominique Sanda andPierre
Clmenti. The film was a co-production of Italian, French, and West
German film companies.
Bertolucci makes use of the 1930s art and decor associated with
theFascist era: the middle-class drawing
rooms and the huge halls of the ruling elite.[1] Plot
The film opens with Marcello Clerici (Jean-Louis Trintignant) in
Parisfinalizing preparations to assassinate his former college professor,
Luca Quadri (Enzo Tarascio). It frequently returns to the interior of a car
driven by Manganiello (Gastone Moschin) as the two of them pursue the
professor and his wife.
Through a series of flashbacks, we see him discussing with Italo, a
blindfriend, his plans to marry, his somewhat awkward attempts to join
the Fascist secret police, and his visits to his morphine-addicted mother at
the family's decaying villa and his unhinged father at an insane asylum.

16

In one of these flashbacks we see him as a boy during World War I, who
finds himself isolated from society by his family's wealth. He is socially
humiliated by his schoolmates until he is rescued by chauffeur Lino
(Pierre Clmenti). Lino offers to show him a pistol and then makes sexual
advances towards Marcello, which he partially responds to before
grabbing the pistol and shooting wildly into the walls and into Lino, then
flees from the scene of what he assumes is a murder.
In another flashback Marcello and his fiancee Giulia discuss the necessity
of his going to confession in order for her parents to allow them to marry,
even though he is an atheist. He agrees, and in confession admits to the
priest to having committed many sins, including his homosexual
experience with Lino, the consequent murder, premarital sex, and his
absence of guilt for these sins. Marcello admits he thinks little of his new
wife but craves the normality that a traditional marriage with children will
bring. The priest is shocked apparently more by Marcello's
homosexuality than the murder but quickly absolves Marcello once he
hears that he is currently working for the Fascist secret police, called
Organization for Vigilance and Repression of Anti-Fascism (OVRA).
Now married, Marcello finds himself ordered to assassinate his old friend
and teacher, Professor Quadri, an outspokenanti-Fascist intellectual now
living in exile in France. Using his marriage as a convenient cover he
takes Giulia on their honeymoon to Paris where he can carry out the
mission.
While visiting Quadri he falls in love with Anna - the professor's young
wife - and actively pursues her. Although it becomes clear that she and
her husband are aware of Marcello's Fascist sympathies and the danger
he presents to them she seems to accept his advances, as well as forming
a close attachment to Giulia, toward whom she appears to make sexual
17

advances as well, possibly for Marcello's benefit. Giulia and Anna dress
extravagantly and go to a dance hall with their husbands where
Marcello's commitment to the Fascists is tested by Quadri. Manganiello is
also at the dance hall, having been pursuing Marcello for some time and
is doubtful of his intentions. Marcello returns the gun that he has been
given and secretly gives Manganiello the location of Quadri's country
house where the couple plan to go the following day. Even though
Marcello has warned Anna not to go to the country with her husband and
has apparently persuaded her that she should leave her husband and
stay with him she does make the car journey. On a deserted woodland
road Fascist agents conspire to stop Quadri's car with a false accident.
When he attempts to help a stricken driver he is attacked and stabbed to
death by several men who appear from the woods. Anna sees her
husband murdered and realising the danger to herself runs to Marcello's
car for help. When Anna sees that the passenger in the rear of the car is
Marcello, she begins to scream uncontrollably, then runs off into the
woods. Marcello merely watches without emotion as she is pursued
through the woods and finally shot to death.
The ending of the film takes place in 1943 during the fall of Benito
Mussolini and the fascist dictatorship, Marcello now has a small child and
is apparently settled in a conventional lifestyle. He is called by Italo, his
blind friend and former Fascist, and asked to meet on the streets. While
walking with Italo, they overhear a conversation between two men and
Marcello recognizes one of them as Lino, who attempted to seduce him
when he was a boy. Marcello publicly denounces Lino as a homosexual,
Fascist, and for participating in the murder of Professor Quadri and his
wife. While in this frenzy, he also denounces his friend Italo. As a crowd
sweeps past, taking Italo with them, Marcello is left alone, unaccepted by
the people of the new partisan political movement, and having spurned
18

his former friend. He sits near a small fire and stares intently behind him
at the young man Lino was previously talking to. the political level, in
particular."[3]
In 2013, Interiors, an online journal concerned with the relationship
between architecture and film, released an issue that discussed how
space is used in a scene that takes place on the Palazzo dei Congressi. The
issue highlights the use of architecture in the film, pointing out that in
order to understand the film itself, its
essential to understand the history of theEUR district in Rome and its
deep ties with fascism.[4] Production[edit]
The filming locations included Gare d'Orsay and Paris, France; Sant'
Angelo Bridge and the Colosseum, both

in Rome.[5]
According to the documentary Visions of Light the film is widely praised
as a visual masterpiece. It was photographed byVittorio Storaro, who used
rich colors, authentic wardrobe of the 1930s, and a series of unusual
camera angles and fluid camera movement. Film critic and author Robin
Buss writes that the cinematography suggests Clerici's inability to
conform with "normal" reality: the reality of the time is
"abnormal." [6] Also, Bertolucci's cinematic style synthesizes
expressionismand "fascist" film aesthetics. Its style has been compared
with classic German films of the 1920s and 1930s, such as inLeni
Riefenstahl's

19

Triumph of the Will and Fritz Lang's Metropolis.[7]

The drama was influential to other filmmakers: the image of blowing
leaves in The Conformist, for example,
influenced a very similar scene in The Godfather, Part II (1974) by Francis
Ford Coppola.[8] Additionally, the scene in which Dominique Sanda is
chased through the snowy woods after her husband has been stabbed, is
echoed with mood, lighting and setting in a third season episode of The
Sopranos, "Pine Barrens", directed by Steve Buscemi.

20

Critical response
Vincent Canby, film critic for The New York Times, liked Bertolucci's
screenplay and his directorial effort, and wrote, "Bernardo Bertolucci...has
at last made a very middle-class, almost conventional movie that turns
out to be one of the elegant surprises of the current New York Film
Festival...It is also apparent in Bertolucci's cinematic style, which is so
rich, poetic, and baroque that it is simply incapable of meaning only what
it says...The movie is perfectly cast, from Trintignant and on down,
including Pierre Clementi, who appears briefly as the wicked young man
who makes a play for the young Marcello. The Conformist is flawed,
perhaps, but those very flaws may make it Bertolucci's first commercially
popular film, at least in Europe
where there always seems to be a market for intelligent, upper middle-

class decadence."[18]
In 1994 critic James Berardinelli wrote a review and heralded the film's
look. He wrote, "Storaro and Bertolucci have fashioned a visual
masterpiece in The Conformist, with some of the best use of light and
shadow ever in a motion picture. This isn't just photography, it's art
powerful, beautiful, and effective. There's a scene in the woods, with
sunlight streaming between trees, that's breathtaking to behold and all
the more stunning because of the brutal events that take place before

this background."[19]
In 2005 Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times staff writer, said, "In this
dazzling film, Bertolucci manages to combine the bravura style of Fellini,
the acute sense of period of Visconti and the fervent political
commitment of Elio Petri and, better still, a lack of self-indulgence...The
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Conformist," which memorably costars Dominique Sanda as a sexually

ambiguous beauty, is not merely an indictment of fascism with
some swipes at ecclesiastical hypocrisy as well but also a profound

personal tragedy.[20]
In a 2012 article in The Guardian, John Patterson defined the movie an
"expressionist masterpiece", which
"offered a blueprint for a new kind of Hollywood film," inspiring New
Hollywood film makers.[21]
The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 100 percent of
critics gave the film a positive review,
based on thirty-nine reviews.[22]

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Bernardo Bertolucci's films are often centered on the "split" protagonist.

Sometimes ( Before the Revolution, The Conformist andif we take Maria
Schneider as the central figure Last Tango in Paris ) the split is
dramatized within a single individual torn between two lovers/ways of
life/political allegiances; sometimes
( Partner, 1900 ) it is dramatized by simultaneously paralleling and
opposing two protagonists, inverted "doubles."
The Conformist repeats the essential structure of Before the Revolution.
The protagonist is torn between alternatives on two levels: political
Marxism vs. conservative Fascism; and sexual bourgeois marriage vs. a
form of sexual deviancy (incest in the earlier film and homosexuality in
the later, though this is touched on in the first section of the earlier film
also). There are also important differences. In The Conformist the choice
has already been made, and Marcello is presented with the quandary of
whether to re-confirm or reverse it; also, because the protagonist is a
(precariously) committed Fascist, Bertolucci is able to distance himself
from him more successfully, achieving a degree of irony that eluded him
in Before the Revolution. What gives the films both richness and
confusion is the failure of the political and sexual levels to become
coherently aligned. One expects the straightforward opposition of
Marxism/sexual liberation vs. conservatism/sexual conformity, but this
never quite materializes. In Before the Revolution the protagonist's aunt/
lover (and before her, his young male friend/potential lover) is presented
as apolitical and neurotic. In The Conformist the "liberated" woman with
left-wing commitments and explicit lesbian tendencies is associated (via
the lesbianism) with decadence and irresponsibility. The homosexual
chauffeur who seduced an already sexually ambiguous Marcello in
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childhood is also presented as decadent and exploitive. Yet the film is

quite clear in connecting Marcello's repression of his homosexuality with
his espousal of Fascism. The tension is never resolved in the film, or
elsewhere, in Bertolucci's work so far.
Fundamental to the "Bertoluccian split" is a tension within his cinematic
allegiances. Avowedly a disciple of Godard, his stylistic affinities are with
a tradition of luxuriance and excess that might be represented by Welles,
Ophls and von Sternberga tradition totally alien to Godard's filmic
practice. When Bertolucci obtained financing from Paramount for The
Conformist , Godard (then at his most intransigent, in the period
immediately following the upheavals of May 1968) denounced him.
Bertolucci took his revenge by giving Marcello's left-wing mentor,
Professor Quadri, Godard's telephone number, then having the character
violently assassinated. It is not surprising that the same film sees the full
flowering of Bertolucci's stylistic flamboyanceelaborate camera
movements, strange baroque angles, luxuriant color effects, a profusion
of ornate decor, the intricate play of light and shadow. This
abandonment, however, never ceases to be troubled and uneasy:
baroque excess collides with Godardian distanciation. The film at once
intellectually disavows "decadence" yet acknowledges an irresistible
fascination for it. The split is not merely thematic (hence under the artist's
control): it manifests itself at every level of his filmmaking.
Robin Wood

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