The potent images from Bernardo Bertolucci’s masterpiece, The Conformist (1970), are likely to linger in one’s memory long after the film has ended.
This avant garde creation, based on a novel by Alberto Moravia, is a political tale told in a poetic and theatrical manner. Marcello Clerici (Jean Louis Trinitgnant) joins the fascist party and is sent to assassinate his ex professor, now a liberal activist who left Italy for Paris. Marcello and his lively-yet-naïve new wife (Stefania Sandrelli) go to Paris without her knowing the real motive behind their trip. As the couple befriend the professor and his beautiful wife, layers of sexual tension unfold. Paris, which is portrayed in the film at its most glamorous, becomes an omnipresence vital to the characters‘ interactions. The unavoidably tragic end is arguably one of the most strikingly cinematic climaxes in the history of film.
Playing at Anthology Film Archive 7/19
