Before the Revolution (1964)

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 and screenplay), Gianni Amico (screenplay collaborator)

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:

suicide | italy | wedding | nonlinear timeline | 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:

10 September 1965 (Sweden)

Also Known As:

Before the Revolution

Filming Locations:

Palazzo della Pilotta, Parma, 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

Included among the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider.

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Quotes

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

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Connections

References Journey to Italy (1954)

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Soundtracks

Walking with G.A.
Written and Performed by Gato Barbieri (as Leandro Gato Barbieri)
e registrati su dischi RCA.

User Reviews

A masterpiece not to be missed

Allegedly based on Stendahl's Charterhouse of Parma (Parma is about the only thing the film and the book have in common) this literate, evocative masterpiece was made by Bertolucci in his early twenties. It is, among other things, an astoundingly clear-headed study of a certain kind of haute bourgeois flirtation with (communist) ideology. As Fabrizio, the main character observes, "For me ideology was simply a vacation". Bertolucci, himself a haute bourgeoisie who maintained long-time sympathy for the communist party, nicely contrasts Fabrizio with his mentor, the poor elementary school teacher Cesare who lives the life of a committed party member. When Fabrizio complains that the masses the party is allegedly fighting for simply want the same empty life enjoyed by the bourgeoisie, while he joined the party in the hopes of creating a new man, his mentor simply replies that the workers want to better their economic conditions and that is right. There are two scenes involving speeches of dazzling virtuosity; one where a once rich landowner says goodbye to the estate that is soon to be taken from him, "Here life finishes, and survival begins", and a scene were Fabrizio coins the immortal phrase "Nostalgia for the present". Both the black and white photography and the imposing classical score add to the poignancy of this dreamy farewell paean to a naïve, idealistic, sensibility, that for some time animated the better hearts of educated middle class Europe and somehow managed to live on in a kind of phantasmagoric existence even after the events of 39-45 – the film is set in the early 60s. As a coming of age film it cleverly juxtaposes questions of political disenchantment with romantic (as in sexual) enlightenment; again the wise Cesare reproaches Fabrizio for confusing his alleged disappointment with ideology with his inability to face his botched relationship with Gina his first love (and his aunt!). Some will find this film rather slow and overly literate. Others will find the key interest of the film lies in its technical virtuosity and its playful references to the work of French Nouvelle Vague auteurs. Both reactions are a sad measure of how far the world Bertolucci so successfully evokes has receded from memory; as Bertolucci quotes from Talleyrand in the prologue to the film "Those who did not live before the revolution do not know how sweet life can be".