The Conformist (1970) 4K Restoration
Director: Bernardo Bertolucci Run Time: 113 min. Release Year: 1971
Starring: Dominique Sanda, Enzo Tarascio, Gastone Moschin, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Stefania Sandrelli
Country: Italy, France, West Germany
Language: Italian, French, Latin, Chinese
About the film:
In Mussolini’s Italy, repressed Jean-Louis Trintignant, trying to purge memories of a youthful, homosexual episode – and murder – joins the Fascists in a desperate attempt to fit in. As the reluctant Judas motors to his personal Gethsemane (the assassination of his leftist mentor), he flashes back to a dance party for the blind; an insane asylum in a stadium; and wife Stefania Sandrelli and lover Dominique Sanda dancing the tango in a working class hall.
But those are only a few of this political thriller’s anthology pieces, others including Trintignant’s honeymoon coupling with Sandrelli in a train compartment as the sun sets outside their window; a bimbo lolling on the desk of a fascist functionary, glimpsed in the recesses of his cavernous office; a murder victim’s hands leaving bloody streaks on a limousine parked in a wintry forest.
Bernardo Bertolucci’s masterpiece, adapted from the Alberto Moravia novel, boasts an authentic Art Deco look created by production designer Ferdinando Scarfiotti, a score by the great Georges Delerue and breathtaking color cinematography by Vittorio Storaro. This edition is newly restored in 4K from the original camera negative by Cineteca di Bologna in collaboration with Minerva Pictures under the supervision of Fondazione Bernardo Bertolucci.
“Carries with it a remunerating jolt of youthful creative energy, the memory of a time when movies were the most important art and their creative possibilities seemed endless.”
—Dave Kehr
About the filmmaker:
Bernardo Bertolucci was an Italian film director and screenwriter with a career that spanned 50 years. Considered one of the greatest directors in Italian cinema, he developed a vivid and sensual aesthetic style and explored questions of sexual and political identity. He was the first Italian filmmaker to win the Academy Award for Best Director for The Last Emperor (1987) – which also won eight additional awards, including Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay — and his masterpiece The Conformist (1970) inspired a whole generation of filmmakers. His other major projects include Before the Revolution (1964), Last Tango in Paris (1972), and Tragedy of a Ridiculous Man (1981). He also co-wrote the screenplay for Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) with Leone and Dario Argento. In recognition of his work, Bertolucci the inaugural Honorary Palme d’Or Award at the opening ceremony of the 2011 Cannes Film Festival and a Lifetime Achievement Golden Lion from the Venice Film Festival.
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