10 / 10
The Conformist is Bernardo Bertolucci’s 1970 Italian political thriller and one of the most visually accomplished films in any national cinema. Jean-Louis Trintignant plays Marcello Clerici, an Italian fascist functionary in the 1930s assigned to assassinate his former philosophy professor in Paris. Stefania Sandrelli plays his wife Giulia. Dominique Sanda plays Anna, the professor’s wife who becomes the central romantic complication. The screenplay was written by Bertolucci, adapted from Alberto Moravia’s 1951 novel. The film was produced by Mars Film and released in Italy in 1970. The cinematography by Vittorio Storaro is widely considered among the principal achievements in the history of color film.
The film works as political thriller and as study in psychological accommodation to authoritarian conditions. The work refuses the heroic anti-fascist register that postwar Italian cinema typically deployed. Marcello is not a resistance hero or a clear villain. The character is a man who has accommodated himself to fascism through psychological compromises that the film traces across multiple temporal layers. The structural design uses non-linear narrative to develop the character’s accumulated compromises across his entire life. The work stands as foundational text for political cinema that engages with psychological accommodation rather than with overt political action.
The Storaro Cinematography
Vittorio Storaro’s cinematography on The Conformist is widely considered among the principal achievements in the history of color film. The cinematographer developed particular color palettes for different temporal and emotional layers of the narrative. The 1930s flashback sequences operate at controlled cool registers. The Paris sequences operate at warmer registers that suggest emotional possibility. The fascist functionary sequences operate at sustained deep saturated reds and golds that recall Mussolini-era propaganda aesthetics.
The cinematography also works through particular compositional choices that develop the broader political argument. The frequent use of architectural geometry, dramatic shadows, and theatrical staging produces visual fascism that the audience reads alongside the depicted political content. The compositions reference both Italian fascist architectural aesthetics and broader modernist architectural ambitions that the period blurred. The technique demonstrates how cinematography can develop political argument through visual choices that operate alongside the explicit narrative content.
For Writers
Visual or formal choices can develop political argument alongside explicit narrative content. The Conformist’s cinematography develops fascist aesthetics through visual choices that operate alongside the depicted narrative. This applies to fiction. Consider whether your work’s formal choices support its political content or operate independently of it. The strongest political fiction often integrates formal and narrative argument rather than treating them as separable. The integration requires careful preparation but produces work that works at multiple levels simultaneously.
The Trintignant Performance
Jean-Louis Trintignant’s performance as Marcello Clerici is among the great central performances in political cinema. The character works through controlled affect that the actor establishes from the opening sequences. Marcello speaks little. The character observes more than he engages. The actor builds the character’s interior through accumulated particular behaviors rather than through dramatic display. The performance refuses the obvious moral register that the role’s narrative function could have invited.
The performance’s central achievement is the depicted weakness that allows the character’s fascist accommodation. Marcello is not depicted as ideological fascist. The character is depicted as psychological weak figure who has chosen accommodation as protection against confronting his own particular damages. The actor establishes this weakness through accumulated particular details that allow the audience to recognize the accommodation as psychological choice rather than as political conviction. The technique produces character study that political cinema typically does not deliver.
For Writers
Political fiction can engage with psychological accommodation more effectively than with explicit ideological positions. The Conformist depicts fascism through Marcello’s psychological weakness rather than through ideological conviction. This applies to fiction. Consider whether your political work engages with psychological mechanisms or with stated ideological positions. The psychological approach produces deeper engagement and broader applicability. The stated ideological approach produces immediate political clarity but may limit the work’s lasting engagement.
The Non-Linear Structure
The film’s structural design uses non-linear narrative to develop Marcello’s psychological history across multiple temporal layers. The present action follows Marcello’s drive to assassinate his former professor. The flashbacks develop his childhood trauma, his early adult sexual encounter, his engagement to Giulia, and his recruitment into the fascist intelligence service. The temporal layers operate as parallel investigations of the same character rather than as sequential biographical development.
The non-linear structure allows the work to develop its broader argument about psychological accommodation through accumulated particular situations rather than through linear biographical narrative. The audience encounters Marcello at multiple life stages simultaneously. The character’s accommodation can be traced backward through particular incidents and forward through particular consequences. The structural design uses the non-linear approach to develop psychological argument that linear narrative could not have supported. The work demonstrates how non-linear structure can produce dramatic content that conventional structure could not generate.
For Writers
Non-linear structure can develop psychological argument that linear narrative cannot support. The Conformist uses temporal layers to develop Marcello’s psychological history through parallel investigations rather than through sequential biography. This applies to fiction. Consider whether your work’s psychological content benefits from non-linear treatment. Non-linear structure requires preparation that allows audiences to track temporal positions without explicit signaling. Linear structure is easier to manage but limits the psychological argument the work can develop.
Craft Note
Bertolucci’s collaboration with Storaro across multiple films allowed the development of visual vocabulary particular to the director’s political interests. The use of color as political indicator, the particular compositional choices, and the relationship between camera movement and dramatic content all benefit from sustained collaboration between director and cinematographer. The Conformist represents one of the principal achievements of this partnership. The lesson applies to creative collaboration broadly. Director-cinematographer partnerships that develop across multiple projects produce work whose visual coherence depends on the accumulated working relationship rather than on isolated production decisions. The investment in long-term partnerships pays off in work that one-off collaborations cannot match.
Verdict
The Conformist is one of the most visually accomplished films in any national cinema and one of the strongest political thrillers of any period. The Storaro cinematography is widely considered among the principal achievements in the history of color film. The Trintignant performance develops political fiction through psychological accommodation rather than through ideological conviction. The non-linear structure supports psychological argument that linear narrative could not develop. The work is essential viewing for audiences interested in Italian cinema, in political thriller, in cinematography, or in films that systematically integrate formal and narrative argument. The film rewards repeated viewing across decades.
FAQ
How does The Conformist compare to other Bertolucci films?
The Conformist represents the peak of Bertolucci’s filmography alongside 1900 (1976) and The Last Emperor (1987). The film works at higher compression than these later works while developing equivalent political argument. Audiences engaging with Bertolucci should consider The Conformist as essential viewing and the longer works as deeper engagement.
Should I read the Moravia novel before or after watching the film?
Either order works. The Moravia novel provides additional psychological content that the film compresses considerably. The film’s structural design departs from the novel’s linear narrative. Reading the novel after watching the film produces appreciation for the adaptation choices. The film is widely considered the stronger work despite the novel’s standing.
How does the film handle its political content?
The film handles fascism through psychological accommodation rather than through explicit ideological depiction. Marcello is not depicted as ideological fascist. The character’s fascism emerges from psychological weakness that the film traces across multiple temporal layers. The approach distinguishes the work from political cinema that handles fascism through explicit ideological terms.
How does the film fit Italian political cinema?
The Conformist represents one of the principal Italian political films of the postwar period alongside works by Rossellini, Pasolini, Visconti, and the Tavianis. The film works at higher craft level than most contemporary political cinema in any national tradition. The work’s particular engagement with psychological accommodation rather than with overt political action distinguishes it from cinema that handles political material through more direct means.
How does the runtime function?
The film runs approximately one hundred eleven minutes. The runtime allows the non-linear structure to develop without exhausting the dramatic foundation. The runtime is appropriate to the work’s ambitions. The compressed treatment supports the elaborate visual approach that the film deploys.
What is the cultural impact of the film?
The Conformist produced wide cultural impact in Italy and significant international cultural impact through international distribution and subsequent critical recognition. The work has influenced political cinema globally for over five decades. The film’s cinematography continues to be cited in cinematography education and represents one of the foundational works of color film practice.