Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Jean-Louis Trintignant | ... | Marcello Clerici (as Jean Louis Trintignant) | |
Stefania Sandrelli | ... | Giulia | |
Gastone Moschin | ... | Manganiello | |
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Enzo Tarascio | ... | Professor Quadri |
Fosco Giachetti | ... | Il colonnello | |
José Quaglio | ... | Italo Montanari | |
Yvonne Sanson | ... | Madre di Giulia | |
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Milly | ... | Madre di Marcello |
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Antonio Maestri | ... | Confessore |
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Alessandro Haber | ... | Cieco ubriaco |
Luciano Rossi | ... | Biondo cieco | |
Massimo Sarchielli | ... | Cieco | |
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Pierangelo Civera | ... | Franz |
Giuseppe Addobbati | ... | Padre di Marcello | |
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Christian Aligny | ... | Raoul (as Cristian Alegny) |
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. Written by Dale O'Connor <daleoc@interaccess.com>
Bertolucci's "Conformist" must not be missed if it shows up at your local art/independent movie theater.
Indispensable for its photography and visual style alone -- credit legendary DP Vittorio Storaro, best known for his work on The Godfather films and Apocalypse Now -- the film delivers with a ferocious punch on a remarkable number of levels.
Dense and often difficult, yet leavened with unexpectedly beautiful and humorous touches, "The Conformist" functions primarily as an indictment of Fascism and its adherents. But deeper threads run deeply through the picture; it is an examination of one man's attitudes towards the value of patriotism, love, family, marriage, sex and death, and, as has perhaps been overstated (by both the critics and perhaps the film-maker) it also explores the ramifications of homosexual repression.
Bertolucci expertly manages to weave these themes into a hypnotic, occasionally surreal experience that has served as an inspiration for countless directors.
Performances are brilliant throughout. Dominique Sanda is one of the most engaging and sensual women to ever grace the screen.
See this film, and you will simply wish to see it again.