directed by Bernardo Bertolucci (1970)
Fans of exquisite cinematography might be familiar with Bernardo Bertolucci’s classic The Conformist, scenes of which are frequently cited in serious discussions of the craft. It truly is a gorgeous movie and every single shot is an aesthetically pleasing piece of art. Photographer Vittorio Storaro‘s work here inspired Francis Ford Coppola’s Godfather films.
The art direction and costumes, as well as the acting is all phenomenal. You might recognize Jean Louis Trintignant from the bizarre gialli, Death Laid an Egg, his love interests (Dominique Sanda and Stefania Sandrelli) are as lovely as the photography.
Of course, a movie is more than just the sum of its cinematography and leading ladies and this is one quite odd and coldly effective. I’ve never read the book by Alberto Moravia, but if it matches the tone and mood of Bertolucci’s adaptation, I’d assume it shares much with the work of Kafka and Sartre, although the specific horrors depicted here (giving up one’s identity and soul to a Fascist regime in order to fit in) are far from metaphoric; this story comes out of a very real and very recent chapter in Italian history.
But what do you think?