One of the finest sex-and-politics thrillers ever made, blending sharp humour with riveting suspense.
The Conformist (1970)
Rated: 15
Runtime: 1 hr 51 mins
Theatrical Release: 29-02-2008
Synopsis: The film that made Bernardo Bertolucci's international reputation, THE CONFORMIST (based on Alberto Moravia's novel) is equal parts film noir, Freudian melodrama, and political commentary. The hero, Marcello Clerici (Jean-Louis Trintignant), joins Italy's fascist party, marries a... The film that made Bernardo Bertolucci's international reputation, THE CONFORMIST (based on Alberto Moravia's novel) is equal parts film noir, Freudian melodrama, and political commentary. The hero, Marcello Clerici (Jean-Louis Trintignant), joins Italy's fascist party, marries a simpering bourgeois woman, and agrees to assassinate the university professor who once acted as his mentor, all to become a "normal" member of society. As his psyche unravels--a homosexual encounter at age 13, his father's illness, his desire for the professor's wife, Anna (Dominique Sanda)--Bertolucci gradually shows that Clerici wants to become a robot in order to forget the messiness of life. But Clerici is moral enough at heart to begin putting off the murder in true Hamlet fashion. Bertolucci evokes the antiseptic fascist bureaucracy, the charming circle of the professor, and the bloody outcome of moral bankruptcy with equally arresting visuals. The narrative is nonlinear, but the arc is clear; as Clerici's smug, self-satisfied air comes undone, Bertolucci wants every Italian to answer for their own behavior when the fascists came. [More]
Genre: Dramas
Starring: Jean-Louis Trintignant, Stefania Sandrelli, Dominique Sanda, Pierre Clementi
DVD Info
Release:
May 12, 2006
DVD Features:
- Region 1
- Keep Case - Sensormatic
- Widescreen - 16.9
Audio:
- Dolby Digital Mono - English
- Dolby Digital Mono - Italian
- Dolby Digital Mono - French
- Dolby Digital Mono - Spanish
- Dolby Digital Mono - Brazilian Portuguese
Additional Release Material:
- Featurettes - 1. THE RISE OF THE CONFORMIST: THE STORY, THE CAST
- 2. SHADOW AND LIGHT: FILMING THE CONFORMIST
- 3. THE CONFORMIST: BREAKING NEW GROUND
Reviews
A beautifully imagined portrait of moral and political cowardice.
One of the most referenced and extraordinary films in cinema history.
The Conformist isn't just a triumph, it's one of the greatest movies ever made.
Probing, unsettling and visually compelling, The Conformist treats its audience as adults, never opting for easy closure.
A powerful story well acted by a fine cast, it doesn't have the moral outcome you might imagine. An absorbing drama with a different, albeit downbeat, twist to it.
A visual masterpiece thanks to Storaro’s keen eye and Bertolucci's assured direction.
Juggling past and present with the same bravura flourish as Welles in Citizen Kane, Bertolucci conjures a dazzling historical and personal perspective.
Bertolucci never made another film that even came close to The Conformist
The movie is pure magic as story, as drama, as photography, as conviction, as everything except its ideas.
Bertolucci's masterpiece was controversial at the time due to its psycho-sexual approach to the fascist protag and to history, but what was beyond doubt was the film's spectacular visuals and sensual texture, its unity of contents, form and style.
[Bertolucci's] application of stunning cinematic beauty to an ugly character study could be cited as proof that filmmakers do their best work when they're young.
Bertolucci's reckless, youthful skill (he was 29) and Storaro's ravishing photography hold it together.
The exquisite reverie of a death dance (political and sexual), filmed by a wizard of barely sublimated eros.
One of the all-time greats, with a flabbergastingly deep mastery of time and space.
Related Forums

by: REEL_REVIEWER 12/9/06

by: REEL_REVIEWER 12/9/06

by: REEL_REVIEWER 12/9/06

by: REEL_REVIEWER 12/9/06


Top Critic