The Conformist (Extended Edition) Reviews

• one of the 10 best films I've ever seen

  
  By A1725KPO7A5ULX on 2006-06-29
  What kind of man gets himself in such a pickle that --- on his honeymoon --- he's given a gun and asked to kill a professor he's always admired?
  
  That is the question presented to us at the beginning of "The Conformist," as Marcello Clerici (Jean-Louis Trintignant) sits in a Paris hotel room, waiting for the call that will tell him it's time to kill the professor. If you love movies, the answer --- told in a series of flashbacks, and, on occasion, flashbacks within flashbacks --- will make for one of the most rewarding cinematic experiences of your life.
  
  Let's get the praise out of the way right off. Bernardo Bertolucci --- known to most moviegoers for his Oscar-winning "The Last Emperor" and his down-and-dirty "Last Tango in Paris" --- made "The Conformist" at 29. It is a young man's film, drenched in ambition. It is also Bertolucci's greatest film. Indeed, it is one of the ten greatest films I've ever seen.
  
  My reasons?
  
  First, "The Conformist" is beautiful in the extreme. The cinematographer was the great Vittorio Storaro, and his color palette is so exquisite that Francis Ford Coppola watched this film over and over before making "The Godfather" --- and then hired Storaro to shoot "Apocalypse Now." The production designer was Ferdinando Scarfiotti, whose credits include "Death in Venice" and "Scarface." And Georges Delerue, who did the scores for "Jules and Jim" and "Platoon", composed the music.
  
  Then there is the acting. Trintignant is one of the most familiar faces in French cinema; this is the performance of his life. But mostly, I want to praise Dominique Sanda, then just 22 years old and making only her third movie. She plays the professor's wife, and she unfailingly strikes a remarkable balance --- on one hand, she's the loyal spouse, on another, she's a bi-sexual flirt, and on yet a third, she's the only character in the story who senses the tragedy that lies ahead.
  
  And, finally, there is the story, adapted from the novel by Alberto Moravia, one of Italy's most seductive novelists. Sex is almost a character for Moravia, and it certainly is here --- as the title suggests, Clerici's greatest desire is to be normal, to be one of the faceless masses, to conform.
  
  That's not so easily done in Italy in 1936. Mussolini has brought down the Fascist boot; progressives have fled the country. So Clerici takes a rich, vapid wife. He makes his accommodation with the government. And with that --- he thinks --- he's safe.
  
  But there are no hiding places in life --- and certainly not in a dictatorship of madmen. And then there is the question of the past: How do you acquire a "normal" life if you never had one before? As we flash back, we see that Clerici's privileged childhood was anything but normal. His mother awoke at noon, looking for her first shot of the day. He was raised by nannies. And then there was the encounter with the chauffeur...
  
  What Bertolucci is exploring here is the equation of politics with sex. In a film financed by an American studio, that equation would be explicit and vulgar. Here, every connection is made through imagery and suggestion. Your jaw will drop at scene after scene, but you'll be on the edge of your seat during one in particular --- an evening at a Parisian dance hall when Sanda dances with Clerici's wife. It's a breathtaking seduction, hotter in some ways than sex itself.
  
  Why does Clerici freeze when he's given a gun? Can he kill the professor? What happens to Sanda? And, jumping ahead, what does the Fascist's defeat mean for Clerici? Bertolucci's screenplay is brilliant on these key questions; you are always leaning in, thinking it through, putting the puzzle together. And, of course, you are invited to imagine --- as we always do in great films --- how would I handle this? What would I do if I were Clerici?
  
  And now I must share some tragic news: "The Conformist" is not available on DVD. There's only a VHS. The consolation: Storaro oversaw the transfer. Still, the difficulty of seeing this remarkable film is an injustice that somebody really ought to fix.
  
  For those too frustrated to rent or acquire a VHS tape of "The Conversation," let me recommend "The Garden of the Finzi-Continis", also starring Dominique Sanda, made a year later and exploring some of the same themes. Or you could read Alberto Moravia's novel. But be warned: This is that rare case --- a movie so much better than the book that reading it is a disappointment.
  
  
  
  

• Fall of a Fascista

  
  By AQSQLWD3NLMAS on 2006-12-18
  Break out the brass section, the DVD has arrived. This landmark film like fine wine, now that it has been remastered by cinematographer Vittorio Storaro, and presented with color intact in widescreen in Italian and French, emerges as a true classic. The dispicable VHS dubbed panned & scanned version that we have been watching for over 20 years can be "retired". Bernardo Bertolucci's truth is once again on display. This release sparkles with clarity, and we can thrill to the carefully presented imagery and the powerful symbolism.
  
  Bertolucci, under 30 when he directed CONFORMIST, has become a wonderfully gifted and powerful force in cinema; and never more so than in this fledging effort. He must have storyboarded every moment. The film is tighter than a Rolex; no wasted seconds or icons. In this film he began to explore the vistas of sensuality and sexuality that only two short years later would blossom into THE LAST TANGO IN PARIS (1972); and then would spill out all over the lens and screen in his latest effort, THE DREAMERS (2003).
  
  Alberto Moravia wrote the original novel at over 300 pages. Bertolucci did a marvelous job of extracting the essence of the protagonist, Marcello Clerici, and constructing a fabulous film, complex, lyrical yet brutal, beautiful yet shocking, shallow one moment and lethal the next, full of madness, repressed homosexuality, religious hypocracy, petty politicos, blind people, assassins, victims, and a never ending line of characters being cajoled or abused or eliminated or shamed or extolled. This is the Italy of the late 30's and early 40's, when the bald bulldog, Mussolini, strutted in the shadow of Hitler, dreaming of a new Roman Empire --about ordinary citizens who either resisted the Fascists or joined them. The ones who "resisted" had to be hunted down and eliminated by the ones who "accepted" Fascista "normalcy".
  
  This is a film that needs to be seen more than once. The film opens mid-thrid act, and speeds its entirity in flashback, bringing us up to speed. Just one viewing leaves even the hardiest film buff limp and confused. Somewhere during the 2nd or 3rd viewing, Bertolucci's motives make themselves accessible and evident.
  
  Jean-Louis Trintignant is the perfect Clerici, a successful professor, a loner, who wants to bet married and become a member of the Brown Shirts in order to "fit in"; and along the way we discover the dark side of his nature, confirming his cowardice and true nature. Stefania Sandrelli was very lovely as Guila, the young wife. But the film was stolen by the smoldering sexuality of Dominque Sanda, striking a Marlene Dietrich pose in tight pants, with her hands in her pockets, and a cigarette dangling out of one corner of her mouth. She is a woman of huge appetites and dark secrets.
  
  

• Please, Paramount - or Whoever Has the Rights - Bring This Out on DVD

  
  By A1U6JK0HZI7O4K on 2006-04-08
  I just want to add my voice to those asking - pleading - for The Conformist to be released in a subtitled version on DVD. I first saw The Conformist when it was released about 35 years ago, and have had the good fortune to see it a few times since. (At the risk of rubbing salt in the wound of reviewer James Luckard, I did get to see it when it was at the Nuart in L.A. two years ago.) This film is just absolutely stunning in every way - Jean-Louis Trintignant is of course a great actor, but the thing I find so overwhelming with this film is the way the story, the acting, the cinematography, the lighting, the music, everything just comes together so well.
  
  

• Italian Version of The Conformist

  
  By A3ILPZ107XTF2D on 2002-11-27
  I agree that The Conformist should be released on DVD. I also agree with the reviewer who said that The Conformist is undoubtedly Bertolucci's finest film and perhaps his only true masterwork. However, the dubbing is atrocious--and a similar problem exists with Truffaut's Day for Night--another film that is unavailable on DVD and which has previously been available only in a dubbed version. Since I have seen The Conformist in the theater in the original language, I am confident that they could--with a little effort--release The Conformist in Italian. The Conformist is a truly great film--with stunning cinematography. Bertolucci explores the question of why an intelligent thinker would care to become a fascist. The answer is complex, startling and not ever comforting. It's truly a shame that it has not yet been released on DVD; but it would be a travesty to release it on DVD as a dubbed version (as if voice is not part of acting.)
  
  

• PARAMOUNT - PLEASE RELEASE THIS ON DVD!!!!

  
  By A39VFFPO1B5NSN on 2005-05-07
  Bertolucci's The Conformist is one of the most rapturously beautiful films ever made. Brilliantly acted and swooningly filmed, it remains Bertolucci's greatest achievment, I believe.
  
  Though I would love for Criterion to release this, they can't because Paramount owns the rights. So it's up to them -- people please bug Paramount about this. It's a disgrace that such a great film has essentially never been available for home viewers (and I don't count the dubbed, full-screen VHS travesty). Please Paramount - GET ON IT ALREADY!
  
  
• One of the greatest
  By A1ELZNLISUR7FI on 2006-12-20
  I first saw this movie on VHS, for a film course in college, and was mesmerized by it. Some of the other films in the course ("Battleship Potemkin," "Weekend," "Le Salamandre") were interesting, and I rather enjoyed them, but none captured my mind, and made me think quite in the was that Bertolucci's masterful adaptation of Alberto Moravia's novel did.
  
  The acting is superb in this movie. Specifically, Jean-Louis Trintignant delivers an excellent performance. Touches of humor don't seem forced (I think of the scene at the brothel in particular), yet his torment and humanity are amazingly believable. The rest of the cast also give fantastic performances.
  
  This film is widely acknowledged to be influential to many modern filmmakers, and it's easy to see why. Visually, the film never stops captivating the audience with its amazing scenery. The score helps to set the mood without forcing it upon you. This is truly a movie where just about everything is done right.
  
  It's been a shame that this movie had not been released on DVD; when a new, restored 35mm print recently made the rounds of independent theaters, fans like myself raced to our local moviehouse to catch a showing. Now, at long last, we can own the film on something other than a bootleg VHS, and new generations can experience this wonderful film.
  
  
• Bertolucci at his best
  By on 2001-08-21
  This movie is one of the most interesting films that is barely available any where. In this film Bertolucci takes his Itallian Neo-realist roots out in to a back alley way and gives them a bullet between the eyes. I was lucky enought to see a bootlegged, subtitled, Pal version on vhs, through a long story that isn't relevant,but it was one of the most mind blowing movie experiences of my life. It is the story of a repressed homosexual who became a fascist during WWII in order to belong and not feel like a freak. It is one of the most in depth explorations of the links between sexual repression and fascisim. If some how you get a chance go see this movie.
  
  
• DVD Please!!!
  By AYW3V7GWJBL3J on 2005-02-09
  I actually made it to the LA restoration screening. I've been wanting to see the film for so long but refused to settle for anything less. Needless to say, I was absolutely blown away by the film and the amazing restoration. Some of those scenes have made an endelible imprint. I think it goes straight to the top of my all time list for best cinematography and directing. I mean what does it take to get them to finally just realease it on DVD. Jeez!
  
  
• A True Masterpiece
  By A3SL1DQZX88KZG on 2006-12-16
  When I found THE CONFORMIST in dvd I couldn't believe my eyes. The movie in fact is not available on dvd format in Europe. The quality of the dvd is pretty good and surprised me since we are talking of a reletively old movie. Even the italian soundtrack is good, in spite of the mono. I met some minor problems with the subtitles, but let me also add that their choice is wide. The 16/9 ratio respects the original and it looks great even on a big plasma screen. The interviews of Bertolucci and Storaro (in English!) in the extra make the whole thing a must. This version of THE CONFORMIST includes a 5 minutes scene (interesting enough for its symbolism) that was deleted at the time of the opening. I fully agreed with those who consider THE CONFORMIST Bertolucci's best flm. If you like this sort of films, I may suggest LACOMBE LUCIEN by Louis Malle, MR. KLEIN by Joseph Losey, NOVECENTO by Bertolucci himself, IL GIARDINO DEI FINZI CONTINI by Vittorio De Sica (Oscar in 1971 as Best foreign picture). They are all unique in their own way, but they deal with the same historical period, and they are all great examples of Cinema.
  
  
• A deep and masterful view
  By A3EHDFWLQXJNJ3 on 2001-09-15
  It is so rare to see this in VHS let alone on DVD, yet I believe it is one of the great cimenatic works of art in the later 20th century. A plot and a central character beautifully explored and rendered regarding the repression of one sexuallity and the repression of one's spirit.
  Visually, this film is flawless...every set, every shot, so combined with a comtemplative and not so linear or literial presentation, it begs for multiple viewings. I have seen it in Art Houses repeatedly, but I would love to see Criterion (they seem to miss director's best films sometimes) or the like make a quality digital transfer and release this on disc so we can perserve and learn from this treasure.
  
  
• Breathlessly awaiting The Conformist on DVD
  By on 2002-11-20
  I was shown this film in cinema class when I was 17, and then only saw it again recently, 14 years later. It's still wonderful, and IMO Bertolucci's only universally great film. I don't fault Criterion for not including it in their releases, it's probably a rights issue as it normally is (i.e. they had but lost the rights to Kwaidan - A for effort though). Folks like Criterion and Anchor Bay can't always get the rights to a director's entire body of work. Despite it all, I am one of the masses breathlessly awaiting a DVD release of The Conformist (though not optimistic an original Italian language version was ever cut, so we may have to endure the bad dubbing forever) - the art direction and cinematography are unforgettable. I never forgot certain scenes over the course of 14 years and thousands of other wonderful films. Please someone, release the DVD rights to good people like Kino, Criterion or Anchor Bay - we'll be lining up.
  
  
• Please release this film on DVD!
  By A1T5AZWRM3J30C on 2004-11-22
  This is one of my all time favorite films... please rent this movie or buy it on vhs...
  
  Help support bringing this film to dvd... please visit CRITERION criterionco.com and suggest it as a film they should release.
  
  
• TIME TO CONFORM
  By A37JH7JQDBJ0ZF on 2005-12-26
  I saw The Conformist when it first came out 35 years ago, and it's still completely vivid in my memory. Everything about it was superlative, but the cinemtography had to be about the best I've ever encountered. For the past several years I check the web periodically to see if a DVD has been released to no avail. Please, somebody release it so that more people can see one of the most stunning films ever made.
  
  
• Pleaaasssseeee....
  By on 2004-06-25
  I WANT "THE CONFORMIST" RELEASED ON DVD!!!!!! It is so annoying I can't have this film on dvd.
  
  
• Start bugging Paramount for a DVD.... now!
  By A2UP25QGXHB1J2 on 2004-11-07
  I finally had a chance to see a print of this film. Absolutely amazing. It is a shame that only a pan-and-scan poorly mastered VHS exists of it.
  
  The truly sad thing is the new telecine (digital mastering) IS DONE!! It has been done for 5 years now.... I've actually had a chance to see clips on the telecine machine at Paramount. Absolutely stunning. It's just that Paramount isn't sure there is an audience for it (and hence, profit for them) to put it in print.
  
  Anyway, the film is brilliant. Conrad Hall watched the VHS version before he shot any film (as horrid as the transfer was to VHS). Storarro's cinematography is simply amazing. Help with the writing campaign to get a DVD of this film released.
  
  
• Maybe the best movie in the past 35 years. DVD in Italian??
  By A1SAZB83QFR0W2 on 2005-04-15
  Cinematography, script, direction,acting,theme; all brilliant. Who do I write to to get this movie on DVD and with subtitles; dubbed version destroys the whole concept. Right now, a video version sells for $140.00. PS. I just noticed where the image usually goes on an Amazon item, this one says 'No Image Available.' Hmmmmmm.....
  
  
• DON'T DUB DE GREAT MOVIE
  By A2D9KBUFM0OKQM on 2005-09-11
  FOR 35 YEARS I HAVE CONSISTENTLY RANKED THIS AS ONE OF THE GREATEST MOVIES EVER MADE.
  HAVING SAID THIS, THE VOICES USED TO REPLACE THE ITALIAN AND SPARE THE SUBTITLES STRIP THIS FILM OF ITS BEAUTY RESULTING IN A JUXTAPOSE REMINISCENT OF "WHAT'S UP TIGERLILY?" OR A REVERSAL OF THE PLOTLINE IN "SINGING IN THE RAIN". GREAT FOR A COMEDY, BUT I DOUBT IT WAS INTENDED BY THE PRODUCERS OF THIS IMMENSE FILM.
  
  
• Zeitgeist Fever
  By A1DMOOFE9R8N5U on 2007-01-07
  It is tempting to attribute the stylistic differences between Bertolucci's three great films to maturity, but each well reflects the rapidly emerging trends during film's most turbulent, and perhaps greatest decade. 1900 appeared at the end of the decade at a time when other directors struggled to find meaning and closure showcasing ensembles within an epic frame, such as Altman's Nashville and Leone's Once Upon a Time in America. Four year earlier, Brando's virtuoso improvisation in Tango displayed the same searching rage as Nicholson in Five Easy Pieces and DeNiro's Taxi Driver.
  
  The Conformist is very much akin to the barrier breaking daring yet tightly packaged product that epitomized the last years of the 60's. While a perfect cast performs impeccably, it is the director as magician who dominates, fracturing the timeline, alternating between stark realism and stylized flashes of the surreal. The audience is challenged to comprehend the pieces while accommodating an unfamiliar mixture of emotion. It is surely artistry at the highest level.
  
  We live in an interesting time when annual reviews of the year's best releases tend more and more to focus on that which is rediscovered (such as last year's Coltrane/Monk concert, or recent remasterings of Bunuel and Lang). These are the best of times, these are the worst of times.
  
  
• conformist-new print
  By A1Q3X297DEIT3W on 2004-03-16
  The cinematographer John Bailey (American Gigolo, The Big Chill and as good as it gets) was speaking at the LA film school in 2003 and showed clips from the Conformist.
  I immediately asked him about it. He said that there's a new print at Paramount made by Vitterio Storaro. I have written Paramount and Criterion. Please harass Paramount about it.
  It's a shame that such a classic and influential has been ignored for so long.
  
  
• BERTOLLUCI'S MASTERPIECE by Ian Colvin, 12 year-old filmmaker
  By A3RF9UVR9WZ6Q7 on 2006-12-31
  I like to start out by saying that this film is one of the greatest films ever made. For Bertlucci, who later made "Last Tango in Paris" (1972), "1900" (1976) and "The Dreamers" (2003), this was one of his first few films (and I believe it's one of his best). This masterpiece along with "Last Tango in Paris" and "1900" are must see's for any movie buff or aspiring filmmaker (Quentin Tarantino even owns his own print of "1900"). When I went in, I thought it was just going to be bullets flying everywhere and that's it. But in fact, there's only two scenes that have violence. To top it off "The Conformist" features the always beautiful Bertolucci regular Dominique Sanda (wow!). Bertolluci, sadly is not as well known as other directors like Fellini, but I feel he is just as good.
  
  
  BOTTOM LINE
  Great filmmaker + great cinematography + great editing + great cast = a true masterpiece
  
  
• DVD release is excellent despite cheap pricing
  By A2OGBTQLYP4VH2 on 2006-12-06
  I bought the dvd after running to four different stores to find it. No one has this dvd in store, and the one store that had it only had one copy which i now have, ridiculous because when you ask people for help they never even heard of the conformist. anyway the film is in italian if you so choose it to be, along with other dubbed versions. the reconstruction of the film being called an extended edition baffles me because in the special features bertolluci says the film should be two hours and five minutes but the back of the film only allows for 111 minutes of screen time. i have only watched the special features and have jumped from scene to scene on the actual film but am discouraged by this descrepancy. the movie looks great and the special features are a good deal as well. the italian version of the film is a little wierd too. i'm not used to seeing people speak italian but it looks like some of the time the mouths are not moving with the words. like the sound is not the correct speed as the film. I hope they didn't dub it in italian instead of having the original italian, i don't get it. it makes no point of saying anywhere on the dvd or packaging that it is the original language of the film. everything else is great and especially for the price only $15 is amazing, i remember buying Lawrence of Arabia for $40 when it first came out years ago, now its only $15 too. the dvd market is not passing the buck onto the audience anymore. new releases aren't huge mark-ups anymore thank goodness. I own the conformist and not a cheap $100 vhs or a burned dvd that looks bad but actually on dvd, been waiting a long long time.
  
  
• Top 10 it's not.
  By AUX2NQMKK5L1W on 2007-01-12
  Not as spectacular as other reviews led me to believe. I hadn't seen it before, but with comments like "precursor to The Godfather" and "one of the 10 best movies" I thought I'd give it a try. It's an OK movie at best. It has some interesting visuals and unique cinematography, but the story is just not interesting or engaging. I'm generally very easy to please when it comes to movies, but for the last half hour of this movie I was just waiting for it to end. The cheesy 70s dialog and hammy acting didn't help either. Sorry, but I really can't recommend it.
  
  
• Compelling Performances by Trintignant and Sanda
  By A20RQB3SXOQCGF on 2007-02-03
  Having just seen SOPHIE SCHOLL:THE FINAL DAYS (Zeitgeist Video) -- a magnificent study of political courage, I was ready for a film that portrayed the opposite. The anti-hero of THE CONFORMIST reveals how fickle moderns can be about their political beliefs and sexual partners. Marcello chooses to be a Fascist and carry a gun because it helps him compensate for the abuse he suffered as a child. It satisfies his his thirst to recover his maculine "potency" and avenge those who would ever hurt him again.
  
  Perhaps the final scene is greatest because it reveals the theme of the movie with clarity. The film is very psychoanalytic, and if that's what floats your boat you'll be satisfied with the script and characterization.
  
  Having said that, Bertoluci offers some engaging ideas and a generally fine script based on the novel by Moravia. What I found less than satisfying (as I have in other Bertolucci films) is his garbled approach to cinematography, in which the camera is at once panoramic, then jittery and hand-held, then sharp, then fuzzy, then filtered -- for no reason apparent to an intelligent viewer. Also, the extended version adds footage the theatrical cut might have done without, because the film slows periodically and the the narrative tension sags.
  
  There is also an element to Bertolucci's view of human sexuality that seems eternally decadent, devoid of all love, at times prurient without purpose. I find that depressing, and asume some viewers will, too,
  
  The best reason to see the film is for its performance artistry. The camera loved Dominique Sanda, and she was her most magnetic here. More seductive than the physical actress were her restrained, very powerful dramatic skills. She plays several diffrent "characters" in the film, and each has a multifaceted personaity. Her eyes could drill holes in concrete, but so could her powers of speech.
  
  Trintignant was perfect for the role of a secret agent with the soul and resolve of a toasted marshmallow. While his famous "mad scene" comes on too quickly and escalates at a feverish pace, his performance throughout most of the film is hypnotic and nuanced. Once moment he is pure evil, then completely vulnerable. First: the rough womanizer and then an impotent, shamed loner.
  
  From a plotting perspective, it's difficult to fully believe Marcello's marriage to his silly, bourgeous wife (played by Stefania Sandrelli) even though it may make sense thematically. It's dificult, therefore, to shift from the hard realism Bertolucci crafts to the occasionally implausible stuff he works into this script.
  
  The extras on the DVD are generous and the transfer is generally good, though Criterion would have done better. At this price, though, it would be difficult to pass up such an important film that has odd resonance in our bizarre, very political age.
  
  Worth the price of admission.
  
  
• My Favorite Bertolucci Film!
  By A3C6X0DAM87GN4 on 2003-03-08
  It has been a few years since I've seen "The Conformist". But, this was the first Bernardo Bertolucci movie I ever saw. And the film has stayed with me all this time. Like some of the other customers on here, I too feel this is Bertolucci at his best.

  To be honest I really can't quite remember the story-line so well. A man named Marcello (Jean Louis Trintignant)is sent to assassinate his old professor, Professor Quadri (Enzo Tararscio), who left Italy when the fascist took over.

  Bertolucci managed to tell such a powerful, abosorbing story, that even in at it's most gritty moments, I couldn't turn away from the screen. There's a scene where two people are shot at that would probably be describe by people as disgusting, but, my eyes were glued to the screen. And this is the power most of Bertolucci's films have. Well, at least on me.

  I too feel it's a shame this film it not available on vhs or dvd. And because of that this film is not as well known as it should be. Here is a movie that many would agree upon as being one of Bertolucci's best films, and no one can see it. All most of us can do is just recall moments of the first time we saw it.

  For anyone who ever gets a chance to buy this film or even rent, do it! It will truly be one of those rare films that will always keep coming back to you.

  Bottom-line: Simply Bernardo Bertolucci's best film! Powerful and absorbing. Bertolucci hits the bullseye.
  
  

• Stunning
  By A1DU58OZJNPUHV on 2003-11-14
  'The Conformist' is the best synthesis of Bertolucci's interests as a director. Sex, politics and psychology unite in a maelstorm of hidden intentions. The cinematic style of the film is wonderful. Bertolucci's direction perfectly illuminates the art deco interiors of the period. The shot in which Marcello's shadow disappears from the wall in the scene where the professor tells him abouth the myth in the cave, is one of the most memorable I have ever seen on the screen.

  Bertolucci himself saw 'The Conformist' as an allegory about his relationship with Jean-Luc Godard whom he idolized. The professor in the movie plays the role of the father, the revolutionary. Marcello plays that of the son who wishes to kill his father in order to be free of his unconformist past. This may sound like a lot of pseudo-intellectual banter, but unlike other Bertolucci films the main charcter's psychological make-up in 'The Conformist' is fascinating in his drive to rid himself of his guilt and gain acceptance.

  The exceptional use of lighting creates an atmospheric dynamic sadly missing from Bertolucci's other work. The camera never seems to remain reposed for a moment and even in relatively static scenes you sense that Bertolucci could do something spontaneous and unforeseen at any second.

  In the years to come he would make other films that would arouse awe and surprise, but since this film he has lost his capacity to stun.
  
  

• Stunningly beautiful, sensual and complex
  By ABN5K7K1TM1QA on 2007-06-12
  Marcello Clerici (Jean-Louis Trintignant) is a fascist when the fascists are in power but becomes an antifascist when the fascists lose power. Hence he is the conformist of the title of this extraordinary movie adapted by Italian film legend Bernardo Bertolucci from Alberto Moravia's novel. But more significant than his political conformity is his ability to bend his sexual nature to what is acceptable. The defining event of his childhood is his incomplete seduction by a gay chauffeur, whom he more or less accidentally kills. When conformity to the fascist rule in Italy under dictator Benito Mussolini becomes the norm, Marcello marries the ordinary (but very pretty) Giulia (Stefania Sandrelli) whom he describes as "all bed and kitchen." Marcello thereby sentences himself to a boring but secure petite bourgeois existence. He will simply suppress his "abnormal" instincts.
  
  In a sense this is a character study using a familiar theme, that of sexual repression leading to repressive political expression, such as psychoanalytic theory assigned to the fascist mentality. But Marcello is less interested in sadistic expression as he is with a secure existence. He is something of a shrewd coward, cold, calculating, and indifferent to the feelings of others. We see this strikingly in the scene in the woods when Anna Quadri (Dominique Sanda), who is being chased by fascist thugs, pounds desperately on his car window. But he is completely unmoved and just stares at her with consummate indifference.
  
  But what really enhances this film, making it one of the best I've ever seen, is the beautiful cinematography by Vittorio Storaro and the extraordinarily designed sets and scenes envisioned by Bertolucci. I am reminded of Michelangelo Antonioni's gorgeous Blow Up (1966) and Swedish director Bo Widerberg's stunningly beautiful Elvira Madigan (1967) from the same era. I think Bertolucci wanted to make a film that was politically and psychologically significant but also one that was strikingly beautiful. He used not only sumptuous settings but hired two of the most beautiful actresses in Sanda and Sandrelli. And because this movie is about sex (as it almost certainly must be, having been adapted from a novel by Moravia who was a master at expressing human sexuality) Bertolucci made the movie sexy and sensual. Sanda, whom I previously saw in Vittoria De Sica's The Garden of the Finzi-Continis which came out a year after El Comformista (1970) where she played the beautiful, enigmatic, but icy Micol Finzi-Contini, here plays Anna the bi-sexual wife of one of Marcello's college professors--the man whom Marcello has been instructed to help kill. Sanda is exquisitely sensual as she works to seduce Giulia while at the same time both teasing and rejecting Marcello's advances.
  
  Sandrelli is not be outdone. She too is beautiful and sensual even if the character she plays is a bit ordinary otherwise. The scene on the train where she describes to Marcello how she was ravished as a teen by an older man (the family lawyer) is very moving sexually, and very revealing because Marcello takes her description as a guide in how to make love to his wife! We can see clearly that he needs some instruction since he apparently is not really moved by her beauty.
  
  While the film itself stands alone as an artistic achievement, I want to compare it to the novel from which it was adapted. The main difference is that in the novel we learn so much more about the character of Marcello because of Alberto Moravia's use of an interior monologue throughout. Rather than merely a conformist, in the novel we see that Marcello's character is that of someone who seeks the trappings of conformity and normality because he rightly fears he is not the entirely normal person he would like to be. Ironically it is Giulia who nearly always conforms to what is considered normal behavior and who harbors uncritically the knee jerk beliefs and opinions that she has learned from church and state. Marcello is attracted to her not so much because she is pretty but because she is authentically ordinary and therefore by association he too is not abnormal. It is abnormality that Marcello fears.
  
  The ending in the novel is also different than in the movie although the sense of who Marcello is does not change. In the novel Quadri is a hunchback and his wife is clearly a lesbian who has married him for convenience and security, whereas in this film she is bisexual and he is more like someone she might marry for love. Another difference is in how what happens to the Quadris and the extent to which Marcello is responsible. Bertolucci chose to have Marcello at the scene, whereas in the novel he has no direct experience of their fate. Of course the novel, which is over a hundred thousand words long, goes more deeply into the character of Marcello than is possible in a film. The true psychological complexity of his character comes through, especially his struggle with sexual ambiguity. We see more clearly why he embraced fascism.
  
  But the film is true to the novel in most respects and certainly in the main sense that Moravia intended, that of showing how a particular type of fascist mentality arises and is maintained. But Marcello, although an authentic fascist is not necessary a typical one. The idea that fascists in general follow the herd and adopt a superficial and uncultured world view is no doubt largely correct, but the essence of fascism is the belief in authoritarian rule, the stratification of society, intolerance of diversity, and a willingness, even an eagerness, to use force and violence to obtain such ends. The psychology underlying the portrait by Moravia and Bertolucci is the idea that Marcello sees in himself violent and selfish tendencies and so it is only natural that he should adopt a political philosophy that condones and acts out such tendencies.
  
  
• The Human Nature To Conform
  By A1QQPIUXWD4G0Z on 2005-05-20
  Bertolucci's 1970 film following the life of a young student of philosophy in Fascist Italy. Not of great film quality but the film has an excellent screenplay, a clever script, and reasonable acting.
  
  The Conformist follows the life of Marcello Clerici (Jean-Louis Trintignant) who was a student of philosophy and who admired his teacher Professor Quadri (Enzo Tarascio) for his standing to principle as exemplified in Plato's 'Republic.' Marcello's dreams are shattered however when his teacher chooses to flee to exile in France to oppose Mussolini's fascist regime. Without any other authority figure to look up to, Marcello becomes a black shirt and is approached by Mussolini's government with a special task: to go to France and assassinate his former teacher who is regarded as a radical and a traitor.
  
  The film actually follows Plato's allegory of the cave where individuals are strapped to a wall seeing only the shadows projecting from random objects people behind the wall are moving in front of a fire. There's no rhyme or reason to the objects but those strapped to the wall give them meaning and order regardless as this is the only reality they have. One member is freed and goes over the wall to see the truth; upon returning, his former colleagues kill him as he has killed their only reality. The film follows this theme with its contrasts from light to dark and the development of the characters. Perhaps Bertolucci goes further than Plato suggesting what would happen if two individuals were freed from their wall and saw two different views: who is to return?
  
  This is an excellent film in which its worth is more in the screenplay and dialogue as opposed to its production values or even acting. A good philosophical exploration into human nature and institutions: what makes all conform? What about those who tell others not to conform but have no courage to act themselves? Don't miss this film.
  
  
  
  
  
• Still, a miracle
  By A3UMWK74U2GLRU on 2007-01-10
  This long-awaited DVD fulfills every expectation. The script, the editing, the cinematography, the acting, the set-dressing--every aspect impeccably considered, expertly realized--are all brilliantly captured, even enhanced, on the DVD. The bonus interviews answer questions film buffs have had for decades about how this masterpiece was able simply to happen, and should be required viewing in any serious film studies curriculum. Watching this restored print transported me instantly back to the pure excitement, the untrammelled sense of possibility, that we all experienced watching movies in the early 1970s.
  
  If you care at all about film, this is the best $11.00 you will ever spend.
  
  
• A five-star classic!
  By A1UX7TUY0JTAMB on 2007-01-12
  Getting a legitimate copy of the uncut version of THE CONFORMIST in the original language is a little like finding the holy grail of films. I've seen this version only in the original release and lately at the Los Angeles County Museum. Otherwise I've seen butchered and mutilated versions on satellite and cable television. It is one of the most beautiful films ever made, and narratively is better than the novel it is based upon. The cinematography by Vittorio Storaro is sleek and stunning and created a whole new visual vocabulary for other filmmakers to copy. This disc is a treasure. Thank you for making it available!
  
  
• right up there with 'the damned'
  By A2RFG9LI7JDILS on 2007-01-26
  Bertolucci's 1970 film, finally released on dvd, is such a revelation.. I wish the bush administration would be forced to see this as it depicts a similar mindset to many conservatives of our day..
  As bertolucci says in the special features, it is about a man who knows he is different so he tries to conform himself to the norms of the day.. Isn't that a poignant topic for a film..
  the film evokes Visconti's 'the damned' while delving into areas as diverse and interesting as Fassbinder.. This is without a doubt one of my new personal favorites.
  
  

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