Partner (1968)

Bernardo Bertolucci, along with co-scenarist Gianni Amico, used Dostoievski's 1846, pre-imprisonment novella The Double: A Petersburg Poem, which they moved to Italy and updated to the pro-Vietcong student-protest present,

Director:

Bernardo Bertolucci

Writers:

Bernardo Bertolucci (story), Gianni Amico (story)

Stars:

Pierre Clémenti, Tina Aumont, Sergio Tofano

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Pierre Clémenti	...	Giacobbe I and II
Tina Aumont	...	Salesgirl
Sergio Tofano	...	Professor Petrushka
Giulio Cesare Castello	...	Professor Mozzoni
Romano Costa	...	Clara's father
Antonio Maestri	...	Professor 'Tre Zampe'
Mario Venturini	...	Professor
Alessandro Cane	...	Student
Gianpaolo Capovilla	...	Student (as Gian Paolo Capovilla)
Ninetto Davoli	...	Student
Vittorio Fanfoni	...	Student
Luigi Antonio Guerra	...	Student (as Luigi Guerra)
Giuseppe Mangano	...	Student
Giancarlo Nanni	...	Student
Stefano Oppedisano	...	Student

Storyline

Bernardo Bertolucci, along with co-scenarist Gianni Amico, used Dostoievski's 1846, pre-imprisonment novella The Double: A Petersburg Poem, which they moved to Italy and updated to the pro-Vietcong student-protest present,

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Plot Keywords:

blue panties | 1968 | black panties | roma | reference to vietnam war | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Quotes

[repeated line]
Giacobbe I and II: Let's take out the masks!

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Connections

Referenced in In the Shade of the Conformist (2011)

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Soundtracks

Splash
Written by Audrey Nohra (as Nohra)
Composed by Ennio Morricone
Performed by Peeter Boom
Courtesy of C.A.M.

User Reviews

A fascinating evocation of the times

This rather ludicrous exchange takes place at the end of David Lean's adaptation of Boris Pasternak's epic novel DR. ZHIVAGO:

Gen. Yevgraf Zhivago: Tonya, can you play the balalaika?

Tonya's Boyfriend: Can she play? She's an artist!

This dialogue, as well as the scene within the framing device of Yuri Zhivago's brother Yevgraf finding Yuri's love child with Lara and telling her about her "past," appears nowhere in the novel. Instead, in an epilogue in the novel, two of the many characters, after the end of the Great Patriotic War (World War II), talk about how one had met this love child at the front. Their ruminations illustrate the great dislocations caused by the Revolution, Stalin's Terror, and the War. Nowhere does something as silly and trivial as the question "Can you play the balalaika?" appear in the novel.

Movies that use great events as backdrops to personal stories tend to trivialize the great events and make the intimate lives of their characters rather absurd and trivial (ironically, the very charge Strelnikov makes to Zhivago, in reference to his poetry, in Lean's movie). Great events such as revolutions wash over everyone and have to be handled with the greatest care to avoid this fundamental absurdity of the events being greater than the individuals.

Before "The Dreamers," Bertolucci already made his film that ruminates on the events of '68 and its aftermath in the year itself:

"Partner" ("Il Sosia"), based on Dostoyevsky's "The Double." It is very interesting, and very honest, look at the spirit of the times and I highly recommend it.

Details

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian French

Release Date:

25 October 1968 (Italy)

Also Known As:

Partner

Filming Locations:

Rome, Italy

Company Credits

Production Co:

Red Film, Ministero del Turismo e dello Spettacolo

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1