The Conformist (Il Conformista)
Opens Friday 29 February 2008
With Jean-Louis Trintignant, Stefania Sandrelli, Dominique Sanda, Enzo Taroscio, Pierre Clémenti, Gastone Moschin
111 mins. Cert 15. English subtitles.
A powerful psychological thriller and riveting exploration of Italy's Fascist past, The Conformist is one of the most breathtakingly stylish films ever made and one of the most influential, paving the way for the likes of Scorsese, Coppola and Schrader.
Adapted from a novel by Alberto Moravia, Bertolucci's masterpiece centres on Marcello Clerici, a repressed young man desperate to appear normal to the outside world, who joins the Fascists as an undercover agent and undertakes to assassinate his former professor.
The emotionally expressive lighting of cinematographer Vittorio Storaro has attracted much comment and acclaim. Storaro – who would go on to win Academy Awards for Apocalypse Now, Reds and The Last Emperor – describes thus his approach to the scenes set in Fascist Rome: 'I wanted to show through light the idea of claustrophobia, of being caged. I used the idea that light could never reach the shadows, so that there was a distinct separation between the shadows and the light.'
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