113 mins |
Rated
R
Directed by Bernardo Bertolucci
Starring Stefania Sandrelli, Gastone Moschin, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Dominique Sanda, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Pierre Clémenti, Pierre Clémenti
CHELSEA CLASSICS: ANNIVERSARIES
THE CONFORMIST, “IL CONFORMISTA”
(Bernardo Bertolucci, 1970, 113min)
The first film of three we're playing this Summer during Chelsea Classics to feature the cinematography of Vittorio Storaro, The Conformist remains one of the most influential films in cinema history. Two Italian-American sons, Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese directly cite The Conformist's cinematography with opening their eyes and refining their visual palettes.
Francis Ford Coppola saw The Conformist and brought its visual style to his work on The Godfather, literally telling legendary cinematographer Gordon Willis that he wanted The Godfather films to look like The Conformist. He then hired Vittorio Storaro to shoot his most massive undertaking, the second Vittorio Storaro film we're playing this Summer, Apocalypse Now.
Vittorio Storaro’s cinematography is central to the film’s enduring legacy. The use of color and light—blue and gold filters for the past, with hues that evoke both nostalgia and unease—creates an atmosphere that is simultaneously dreamlike and unsettling. Storaro’s exaggerated compositions, with corridors and spaces that dwarf Marcello, evoke a sense of alienation and existential dread, influencing the look of cinema for decades to follow.
Unfortunately, the subject matter of this film has enduring relevance as well. In a society disappearing political opponents in the form of its citizens exercising their right to speak truth to power, this film is closer to home than we'd care to admit. The disappointment and alienation that comes with "living your best life" in a fascist society like Italy in the 1930s, may very well feel like life in our society today where human values stand in opposition to the status quo. That eery sense of something broken is on full display in The Conformist.
Under fascism, everyone is an enemy, including "friends" of the regime. Marcello, is stuck in a society that birthed him into trauma and kept him subservient with the slow drip of fear. All Marcello wants is to be "normal" and to be "the best version of himself" as his society would have him, but that means working against his own humanity at every turn. Sound familiar?
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CHELSEA CLASSICS: ANNIVERSARIES
THE CONFORMIST, “IL CONFORMISTA”
(Bernardo Bertolucci, 1970, 113min)
The first film of three we're playing this Summer during Chelsea Classics to feature the cinematography of Vittorio Storaro, The Conformist remains one of the most influential films in cinema history. Two Italian-American sons, Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese directly cite The Conformist's cinematography with opening their eyes and refining their visual palettes.
Francis Ford Coppola saw The Conformist and brought its visual style to his work on The Godfather, literally telling legendary cinematographer Gordon Willis that he wanted The Godfather films to look like The Conformist. He then hired Vittorio Storaro to shoot his most massive undertaking, the second Vittorio Storaro film we're playing this Summer, Apocalypse Now.
Vittorio Storaro’s cinematography is central to the film’s enduring legacy. The use of color and light—blue and gold filters for the past, with hues that evoke both nostalgia and unease—creates an atmosphere that is simultaneously dreamlike and unsettling. Storaro’s exaggerated compositions, with corridors and spaces that dwarf Marcello, evoke a sense of alienation and existential dread, influencing the look of cinema for decades to follow.
Unfortunately, the subject matter of this film has enduring relevance as well. In a society disappearing political opponents in the form of its citizens exercising their right to speak truth to power, this film is closer to home than we'd care to admit. The disappointment and alienation that comes with "living your best life" in a fascist society like Italy in the 1930s, may very well feel like life in our society today where human values stand in opposition to the status quo. That eery sense of something broken is on full display in The Conformist.
Under fascism, everyone is an enemy, including "friends" of the regime. Marcello, is stuck in a society that birthed him into trauma and kept him subservient with the slow drip of fear. All Marcello wants is to be "normal" and to be "the best version of himself" as his society would have him, but that means working against his own humanity at every turn. Sound familiar?
