THE CONFORMIST, "One of the Greatest Films of All Time," is Showing at Film Forum in a Restored, 4K Release
/Directed by Bernardo Bertolucci (Italy, 1970) Starring Jean-Louis Trintignant, Stefania Sandrelli, Dominiqie Sanda
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 (CONTEMPT, JULES AND JIM, etc.) and breathtaking color cinematography by Vittorio Storaro.
“Juggling past and present with the same bravura flourish as Welles in CITIZEN KANE, Bertolucci conjures a dazzling historical and personal perspective, demonstrating how the search for normality ends in the inevitable discovery that there is no such thing.” – Tom Milne, Time Out (London)
Gartenberg Media distributes this restored Kino Lorber Blu-ray and DVD release. It is also available as a HD downloadable, DSL file.
