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Konformist

The Conformist (Il conformista)

Movie · 1970 · 15 people

Bernardo Bertolucci adapted The Conformist (Il conformista), a political drama, with his own script from Alberto Moravia's 1951 novel, in an Italian, French and West German co-production. About 111 minutes long, it opened at the 20th Berlin International Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Golden Bear and won the Interfilm Award. It took the David di Donatello for Best Film and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. In 2008 it joined Italy's list of 100 films to be saved.

The story is set in 1930s Italy. Marcello Clerici (Jean-Louis Trintignant) enters the Fascist regime's service because he wants to vanish into the crowd and seem normal. Travelling to Paris on his honeymoon with his wife Giulia (Stefania Sandrelli), he is ordered to kill his exiled former professor Quadri, an anti-Fascist. An affair with the professor's wife Anna (Dominique Sanda) complicates the mission. Told in a fractured chronology of memories, it probes the psychological roots of fascism.

Shot in Rome and Paris, it was Bertolucci's first collaboration with cinematographer Vittorio Storaro, whose use of light is among its most praised features. In Turkey a planned 1970 release was stopped by censors, and the film was first shown in April 1989 at the 8th Istanbul International Film Festival.

DirectorBernardo Bertolucci

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Cast

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Jean-Louis Trintignant Jean-Louis Trintignant Character Actor · died at 91 Stefania Sandrelli Stefania Sandrelli Actor · 80 years old Dominique Sanda Gastone Moschin Pierre Clémenti Enzo Tarascio José Quaglio Fosco Giachetti Yvonne Sanson Milly Giuseppe Addobbati Alessandro Haber Orso Maria Guerrini Carlo Gaddi Luciano Rossi

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Through different eyes

Cinephile Looks at script, editing and directing choices; keeps a distance from formula films.

The Conformist has one of the most studied visual languages in modern cinema, and much of the credit goes to Vittorio Storaro, who in his first collaboration with Bertolucci turned light into a narrative tool. Bertolucci builds Moravia's novel as a fractured chronology made of Marcello's subjective memories, a structure that lets us follow not events but a mind trying to justify itself. Jean-Louis Trintignant's impassive face, carrying the longing for ordinariness, sits at the very centre of a film that probes the psychological roots of fascism. Georges Delerue's score adds a cold elegance. My one criticism is that the fractured telling leaves some transitions unclear on a first viewing; the film demands intense attention and leaves behind whoever doesn't give it.

History & Society Lens Asks about the period, the social background and what the work reflects.

Set in 1930s Italy, the film treats fascism not just as a political regime but as an outcome of the wish to look ordinary and melt into the crowd. Marcello Clerici enters the regime's service not out of ideological commitment but out of a desire to be normal, a view that raises a sharp question about how authoritarian orders stay standing through the conformity of ordinary people. The order to kill the exiled anti-Fascist professor Quadri turns the clash between intellectual and power into a personal relationship. That the film was stopped by censors in Turkey in 1970 and could only be shown at the Istanbul Film Festival in 1989 shows how hard it can be for such a subject even to reach its audience.

Family Viewer Asks whether the whole household can watch it; cares about humour and heart.

This film is not for children. Its subject is an assassination mission, an affair and fascism. The telling is complex too; it moves back and forth between memories and needs close attention. A valuable film for adults who love cinema and history. Those wanting a relaxed family evening should pick something else.

These are not reader reviews: they are short editorial takes written from different viewer perspectives with AI assistance. Reader reviews are below.

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