The Conformist (1970)

A weak-willed Italian man becomes a fascist flunky who goes abroad to arrange the assassination of his old teacher, now a political dissident.

Director:

Bernardo Bertolucci

Writers:

Alberto Moravia (novel), Bernardo Bertolucci (screenplay)

Stars:

Jean-Louis Trintignant, Stefania Sandrelli, Gastone Moschin

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 10 wins & 7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jean-Louis Trintignant	...	Marcello Clerici (as Jean Louis Trintignant)
Stefania Sandrelli	...	Giulia
Gastone Moschin	...	Manganiello
Enzo Tarascio	...	Professor Quadri
Fosco Giachetti	...	Il colonnello
José Quaglio	...	Italo
Yvonne Sanson	...	Madre di Giulia
Milly	...	Madre di Marcello
Antonio Maestri	...	Confessore
Alessandro Haber	...	Cieco ubriaco
Luciano Rossi	...	Biondo cieco
Massimo Sarchielli	...	Cieco
Pierangelo Civera	...	Franz
Giuseppe Addobbati	...	Padre di Marcello
Christian Aligny	...	Raoul (as Cristian Alegny)

Storyline

This story opens in 1938 in Rome, where Marcello has just taken a job working for Mussollini and is courting a beautiful young woman who will make him even more of a conformist. Marcello is going to Paris on his honeymoon and his bosses have an assignment for him there. Look up an old professor who fled Italy when the fascists came into power. At the border of Italy and France, where Marcello and his bride have to change trains, his bosses give him a gun with a silencer. In a flashback to 1917, we learn why sex and violence are linked in Marcello's mind.

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Plot Keywords:

fascist | italy | professor | assassination | political assassination | 

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Taglines:

A study in the seduction of the soul... the rape of the mind... the art of political assassination.

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

Italy France West Germany

Language:

Italian French Latin Chinese

Release Date:

22 October 1970 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Conformist

Filming Locations:

Cinecittà Studios, Cinecittà, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Box Office

Budget:

$750,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mars Film, Marianne Productions, Maran Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

113 min 108 min (first release) (international)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Jean-Louis Trinitignant regards this as the best film he appeared in before Amour in 2012.

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Goofs

Dressmaker Jacques Heim's Heim Actualité was a prêt-à-porter line only introduced in 1950.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Marcello: [to Manganiello on the phone] It's me, yes. Everything all right?
[pause]
Marcello: What do you mean, they're gone? You mean she's gone, too?
[pause]
Marcello: I'll be waiting in front of the hotel.
[hangs up]

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Alternate Versions

The "Dance of the Blind" sequence was restored for the 1994 re-issue of the film. This had been cut for the American release. Contrary to early reports, the DVD released by Paramount does include this scene.

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Connections

Referenced in Sugar Cookies (1973)

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Soundtracks

Chi È Più Felice Di Me?
(uncredited)
Composed by Cesare A. Bixio
Arranged by Georges Delerue

User Reviews

Visually amazing, great sets and sites and blocking, great light, and a very good story, too!

The Conformist (1970)

Well, the reputation this movie has for visual brilliance is well earned. There are whole scenes, lasting just seconds, that are breathtaking not only for the setting (or the sets) but for the way it's composed, a pair of figures in one place, a different scenario (and light) in the background. It's endlessly fascinating and evolving, this play of space and light and figures (actors, yes) moving through it all.

It's also so stylized it becomes a force of its own, above the plot, which has its own kind of surreal fragmentation. So the end result is simply being there, somewhere, and having events twirl around you. This is almost enough. It's magical and moving and simply beautiful. The cinematographer was Vittorio Stararo, in one of his first films. He has worked with the director, Bernardo Bertolucci, on a whole bunch of films ("Last Tango in Paris" might be the most famous for American viewers), and also with other directors for some of their masterpieces: "Apocalypse Now" and "Reds" are just two.

This large, controlling, sometimes self-serving style might not suit everyone, but it does me. And in this case ("The Conformist") it's actually the strongest element. The rest of the movie is really a little bit of a mixed bag. That the end result is pretty fabulous is a testament to making some odd pieces fit, or not fit, perfectly.

What doesn't become clear for some time is the point of the title, which is the moving, significant point of the movie: the main character survives Fascist Italy and then post-War, anti-Fascist Italy, but "conforming," which is to say, he doesn't have particular beliefs, but he knows what will get him to survive. And for him, survival is all that matters, even if it means a watered down life. His professor of many years earlier is just the opposite, and is a kind of hero and de-facto enemy to him. This professor has left Italy in order to fight Mussolini, and he has to face death threats as a consequence.

It's always interesting when the main character, this blow-with-the-wind Marcello, is not especially admirable or even interesting. He is surrounded by some quirky and inevitably interesting people, for sure, but even the two most important of these, his wife and his lover, are kind of symbolic and slightly unaffected types. I mean unaffected by all this terrible stuff going on in the lead up to the War.

And so the end result is we are less affected than you would expect. Or like. Yes, I know this movie gets hugely appreciative reviews, and I think it's for the ambiance, and for the big anti-Fascist message (which is smart and powerful and I agree with). But as a drama between people trying to find themselves, to love the right people, to accomplish a violent political crime, it remains distant, at least most of the time.

Another thing to note: even though the titles are in English, this was and is an Italian movie, with dialog in Italian and a little French. You'll find the sound is awkwardly dubbed--and I mean dubbed in the original language, a looseness of lip-synching that just wouldn't make it in Hollywood (and which you see in other earlier Italian films). Because in fact the dialog is often re-recorded later in movies like this (for superior sound, or because there was too much ambient interference), the synching becomes an issue. Ignore it if you can. It bugged me sometimes.

Overall, yes, this is a kind of masterpiece--flawed, a little bit at arm's length, but stunning, too, and with an important theme.