The Conformist [1970] (REGION 1) (NTSC)

Customer Reviews:

One of the best movies ever made.......2008-01-10

Sweeping statement my title may be but, in this cineaste's humble opinion, The Conformist is indeed one of cinema's most impressive and accomplished achievements.

Bertolucci has always been a hit-or-miss director for me. His first film, La Commare Secca, did not impress me. His next, Prima della Revoluzione, is a wonderful film. This is the guy who managed to make The Last Emperor but also made Little Buddha. He was also responsible for The Sheltering Sky and Last Tango in Paris so, for my money, the pros outweigh the cons. The Conformist, for me, is his masterpiece.

The story involves a man who works for the Fascist police in 1940's Italy, not because he believes in the cause but because he wants to create "the image of normality". From this simple idea, Bertolucci and Alberto Moravia (whose novel was the basis for the script) weave a masterful psychodrama about mankind's inability to think for himself.

Vittorio Storraro's cinematography is nothing short of breathtaking in terms of its capacity to mirror the protagonist's mindstate, and Jean Louis Trintignant is a miracle in the title role.

Cinematically, sociologically and politically, this is one of the most important films ever made. It is also a journey of personal discovery that is far from easy, but is possibly the most rewarding cinematic experience I have ever been lucky enough to have.

I waited for years for a DVD to be released and was ecstatic when this issue hit the shelves. Despite claiming to be an extended cut, this release is in fact the film as Bertolucci made it. One scene was cut for the original American release but has been reinstated for this DVD.

Cited by the great Andrei Tarkovsky as a masterpiece of political cinema (though he was considerably less complimentary about Bertolucci's next film, Last Tango in Paris), this is an invaluable piece of art which deserves to be seen by anyone and everyone with the capacity to fully embrace it.

Bertolucci's vision of fascist peer pressure.......2007-03-26

So desperate is Marcello (Jean-Louis Trintignant who also starred as a hit-man in "The Outside Man") to lead a normal life after he suffers through the psychological trauma of a sexual confrontation with the family chauffeur (played by the bizarre Pierre Clementi) when he was a child. As an adult he eventually succumbs to the political upheavals of Hitler's Nazi machine during the 1930's and conforms to Prime Minister Mussolini's fascist regime of Italy. Working as an agent for the government he's assigned a mission to assassinate a college professor in Paris France whom Mussolini believes to be a threat to the fascist party. The murder is to take place while he's honeymooning with his newly wedded wife played to perfection by the lovely and charming Stefania Sandrelli (who starred in the contoversial film "Desideria" and Bertolucci's "Partner"), who also manages to steal every scene she's in.

While ploting the assassination in Paris he encounters a problem by falling in love with the professor's wife (Dominque Sanda, who also starred in Bertolucci's "1900"). Matters are further complicated not only by his attraction to the professor's wife, but his marriage as well as his (manufactured) loyalty to the fascist regime. The eventual ending indicates what the title is and what he's always been throughout his life. Lavishly shot by the brilliant Vittorio Storaro (Apocalypse Now & Last Tango In Paris), this is considered Bernardo (The Spider's Stratagem & The Last Emporer) Bertolucci's "breakthrough" film and perhaps his greatest acheivement in cinema as he was also nominated for an Oscar for his screenplay. This mesmerizing look at the social values of World War II Italy is not to be missed and remains one of the all-time great films of the 70's.

olofpalme63

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The Conformist [1970] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Starring: Giuseppe Addobbati , Christian Alegny , Benedetto Benedetti , Pierre Clémenti , and Fosco Giachetti
Director: Bernardo Bertolucci
Manufacturer: Paramount
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000IFQLTG
Release Date: 2006-12-05

The Conformist: Extended Edition [1970] (REGION 1) (NTSC)

Average customer rating:

Normal

The Conformist: Extended Edition [1970] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Director: Bernardo Bertolucci
Manufacturer: Paramount Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

All World Cinema | World Cinema | Categories | DVD | Video

Italian | World Cinema | Categories | DVD | Video

All Drama | Drama | Categories | DVD | Video

DVD | Format (binding_browse-bin) | Refinements | DVD | Video
ASIN: 1415719020
Release Date: 2006-12-05

Customer Reviews:

Normal.......2007-05-29

Marcello (Jean-Louis Trintignant) wants to be "normal," lead a normal life with a petite bourgeoisie wife: "She's all bed and kitchen" (Stephania Sandrelli) and all the accoutrements that that life brings with it: home, children, and a good job. But this is 1938 Italy and the ultimate in normalcy is being a fascist and so Marcello gets a job in a Fascist investigation bureau. His job is to find and assassinate any and all anti-fascists. At the age of 34, Marcello can see the light at the end of the tunnel that will take his life to what he considers normal: a mantra that he repeats over and over throughout director Bernardo Bertolucci's very fine film.
Marcello has spent his life in hiding from both his past as well as his present. He is wound up tightly, quiet, solemn, serious and seemingly not aware of the life that swirls around him. But whereas some people consciously hide yet are always aware of what surrounds them, Marcello walks around with blinkers on: blinkers that obfuscate almost every thing except his fantasy yellow brick road to Normal. What's particularly tragic about Marcello is that he doesn't understand that the concept of normalcy is a slippery slope, veritably indefinable and wholly unreachable.
There are only a handful of movies which feature a scene so unusual, so beautiful or perverse that it lingers in the mind of anyone who witnesses it. "The Conformist" contains such a scene: the iconic tango, dripping with over-the-top, blatant homosexual heat as performed by Stephania Sandrelli and Dominique Sanda in a Paris nightclub while the other dancers clear the floor, drop their jaws and marvel at the sensuality of it all. More importantly, Marcello stares at his wife, eyes filled with jealousy. But this is not a jealousy born from desire of her but jealousy born from Sandrelli's utter flamboyance and rigorous throwing off of any taboos about dancing with a woman (Sanda) who obviously wants her.
Though directed with precision and gorgeously photographed by the master Vittorio Storaro, the psychology of Marcello's desperate need to subjugate himself emotionally and physically to the iron hand of fascism is facile and naive at best and murky at its worst: but also remember that the source material by Alberto Moravia is over 40 years old and this film dates from 1970: different times, different thinking. This only slightly mars Bertolucci's achievement here. As it is, "The Conformist" is a serious, thought-provoking, emotionally open and available film filled with amazing images and bursting with Life.

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