They're All Very Moral Maladies

The first time I ever saw Bernardo Bertolucci's The Conformist was in a community college night class I took for high school credit. It was a crappy VHS copy, with the original Italian soundtrack dubbed in English; the film was never widely available & indeed, as I've learned, was barely released theatrically in this country to begin with (& then only at the behest of Coppola, Penn & Lumet, among others). I was just learning how to "watch" movies at that point & hardly knew what to make of this one. But it seared itself into my brain nonetheless. For instance, the above image I have carried with me exactly as it is ever since I saw it. (Obviously my TV screen picture doesn't do it justice; it's a magnificent tracking shot.)

For twelve years I have waited to see this film again.

It never had a proper VHS release that I could find; & since the dawn of DVDs I have scoured Google for news of its release. Although I really thought it would get the deluxe Criterion treatment, Paramount finally released the DVD in December 2006. Of course, I immediately bought it - as a Christmas present for somebody else. But yesterday, I finally went out & bought my own copy which I watched as soon as I got home.

The film is fantastic. Watch it. I command you.

Vittorio Storaro made his name & reputation as the cinematographer for this film & it's patently clear why - the entire thing is gorgeous. The disc's extras are sparse, given the richness of the film (the Mean Girls extras are more in-depth, fer chrissakes), but the most revealing thing to be gleaned from them is Storaro's inspiration for the look of the picture, which was specifically Caravaggio's The Calling of Saint Matthew. To wit:


Namely, that line over on the right betwixt shadow & light. It's pretty much the summation of the picture.

So, I'll give ya the bare-bones plot outline here: Marcello Clerici (Jean-Louis Trintignant) thinks, for reasons I'll not disclose, that he's different from the others. He wants to be like everybody else (hence the title, eh?). Of course, he's also living in fascist Italy in the 1930s, so his wanting to be like everybody else is a bit different from, say, some whiny teenager's. Although, he's convinced that he's so different, & feels such a need to conform, that he goes a bit further & volunteers to do a job for the fascist secret police that will, in effect, erase any reminders for him that he just mightn't be the perfect little fascist after all. But can you ever really escape yourself? (Cue "dah-dahn" here.)

Personally, my new favorite scene from this viewing is one in which he has a conversation with his old philosophy professor about Plato's cave (but I've always had a soft spot for that cave). Good stuff & just stunning to watch. I was also very impressed with the scenes which were filmed in the E.U.R.

From what I understand, this 1970 release is the most readily accessible of Bertolucci's early avant-garde films. Not having seen any of the others I can't speak as to the truth of that, but rumor has it The Conformist created a bit of a rift between Bertolucci & his "mentor" Jean-Luc Godard, who thought Bertolucci told its story too conventionally. I say, hallelujah! Let Godard go off & make dreck with Jane Fonda. I've yet to enjoy even one of his films, honestly - I fell asleep during Breathless, for starters - though I've meant for an age to watch Contempt before giving up on him entirely. (The funny part is, little as I care for Godard, I totally ganked his Tout Va Bien tracking shots for the first film I ever made. Nobody noticed, but I did get a Fellini nod from my professor. It's okay. Coppola ganked The Conformist's blowing leaves scene for The Godfather Part II.)

Also, what favorite movie of mine would be complete without a couple of hot girls? I can't believe there aren't better pictures of these two out on the internets, but alas! here is the best I can do: