Before the Revolution (1964)
"Prima della rivoluzione" (original title)

The study of a youth on the edge of adulthood and his aunt, ten years older. Fabrizio is passionate, idealistic, influenced by Cesare, a teacher and Marxist, engaged to the lovely but ... See full summary »

Director:

Bernardo Bertolucci

Writers:

Bernardo Bertolucci (story), Gianni Amico (screenplay)

Stars:

Adriana Asti, Francesco Barilli, Allen Midgette

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Adriana Asti	...	Gina
Francesco Barilli	...	Fabrizio
Allen Midgette	...	Agostino
Morando Morandini	...	Cesare
Cristina Pariset	...	Clelia
Cecrope Barilli	...	Puck
Evelina Alpi	...	The little girl
Gianni Amico	...	A friend
Goliardo Padova	...	The painter
Guido Fanti	...	Enore
Enrico Salvatore	...	The priest
Amelia Bordi	...	The mother
Domenico Alpi	...	The father
Iole Lunardi	...	The grandmother
Antonio Maghenzani	...	The brother

Storyline

The study of a youth on the edge of adulthood and his aunt, ten years older. Fabrizio is passionate, idealistic, influenced by Cesare, a teacher and Marxist, engaged to the lovely but bourgeois Clelia, and stung by the drowning of his mercurial friend Agostino, a possible suicide. Gina is herself a bundle of nervous energy, alternately sweet, seductive, poetic, distracted, and unhinged. They begin a love affair after Agostino's funeral, then Gina confuses Fabrizio by sleeping with a stranger. Their visits to Cesare and then to Puck, one of Gina's older friends, a landowner losing his land, dramatize contrasting images of Italy's future. Their own futures are bleak.

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Plot Keywords:

italy | suicide | wedding | aunt nephew relationship | cult director | 

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Taglines:

Italy...is the place where they've made an art of everything - especially love!

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Details

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

12 May 1964 (Italy)

Also Known As:

Before the Revolution

Filming Locations:

Emilia-Romagna, Italy

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cineriz, Iride Cinematografica

Technical Specs

Runtime:

115 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Bernardo Bertolucci was only 22 when he made this film.

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Quotes

A friend: Remember, Fabrizio: one can't live without Rossellini.

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Connections

Referenced in American Masters: A Letter to Elia (2010)

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Soundtracks

"Macbeth"
Written by Giuseppe Verdi

User Reviews

Not revolutionary, but very impressive

Before the Revolution is a ravishingly cinematic piece of work, with Bertolucci showing a real confidence with both camera and location that both serves and enhances the script. It doesn't always work, but when it does, it's an outstanding piece of cinema first and foremost – the politics is more a reflection of a universal weakness of character than a specific moment in time a la Godard (the film was adapted and updated from Stendhal's The Charterhouse of Parma). Even the movie references don't gall the way they almost always do in modern films because Bertolucci not only puts them into context with the other arts (literature, music, painting, photography) but makes them personal obsessions that are part of character – the movie buff isn't just there to talk about Bertolucci's favourite films, or even to point out that in cinema style is content: it's simply how that character communicates by equating life to art. A surprisingly exciting piece of cinema.