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The Conformist (1970)
"Il conformista" (original title)

R  |   |  Drama  |  22 October 1970 (USA)
8.1
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Ratings: 8.1/10 from 15,853 users   Metascore: 100/100
Reviews: 96 user | 108 critic | 11 from Metacritic.com

A weak-willed Italian man becomes a fascist flunky who goes abroad to arrange the assassination of his old teacher, now a political dissident.

Writers:

(novel), (screenplay)
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Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 10 wins & 7 nominations. See more awards »
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Edit

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
...
Marcello Clerici (as Jean Louis Trintignant)
...
Gastone Moschin ...
Manganiello
Enzo Tarascio ...
Professor Quadri
Fosco Giachetti ...
Il colonnello
José Quaglio ...
Italo
...
Pierre Clémenti ...
Lino
Yvonne Sanson ...
Madre di Giulia
Milly ...
Madre di Marcello
Giuseppe Addobbati ...
Padre di Marcello
Christian Aligny ...
Raoul (as Christian Alegny)
Carlo Gaddi ...
Hired Killer
Umberto Silvestri ...
Hired Killer
Furio Pellerani ...
Hired Killer
Edit

Storyline

This story opens in 1938 in Rome, where Marcello has just taken a job working for Mussollini and is courting a beautiful young woman who will make him even more of a conformist. Marcello is going to Paris on his honeymoon and his bosses have an assignment for him there. Look up an old professor who fled Italy when the fascists came into power. At the border of Italy and France, where Marcello and his bride have to change trains, his bosses give him a gun with a silencer. In a flashback to 1917, we learn why sex and violence are linked in Marcello's mind. Written by Dale O'Connor <daleoc@interaccess.com>

Plot Summary | Add Synopsis

Taglines:

Bertolucci's Masterpiece about Sex and Politics [re-release]

Genres:

Drama

Certificate:

R | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

 »
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Details

Country:

| |

Language:

| | |

Release Date:

22 October 1970 (USA)  »

Also Known As:

The Conformist  »

Box Office

Budget:

$750,000 (estimated)
 »

Company Credits

Show detailed on  »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

| (first release) (international)

Sound Mix:

Color:

(Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1
See  »
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Did You Know?

Trivia

Bertolucci proposed the film adaptation of the novel to Paramount, without ever reading it himself. Within a month, he started the screenplay. See more »

Goofs

A radio tower appears in a flashback to Marcello's Rome boyhood in 1917. See more »

Quotes

Giulia: [sexually aroused while kissing Marcello on a couch] If you want... want to...
Marcello: If I want to...?
Giulia: Yes, right here... on the floor... on the carpet... Want to?
Marcello: Better think about the priest. He may not grant absolution.
Giulia: They grant everyone absolution.
See more »

Connections

Version of La Dolce Vita (1960) See more »

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User Reviews

 
Brilliant film making
23 June 2004 | by (NYC) – See all my reviews

Brilliant adaptation (and improvement) of the Moravia work, with the entire structure revolving around Plato's Republic added by Bertolucci. As a meditation on both tyranny and the tyrannized, it is unsurpassed in cinema.

The center of the film explicitly discusses the cave image in the Republic (the topic of Marcello's abortive thesis when he was Quadri's student). But that is not all: a reading of the immediately relevant sections of the Plato will make it obvious that it provided Bertolucci with a stream of imagery for the film. A reading of the entire work will reveal an even greater stream, largely taken from the discussions of tyranny and the tyrannic man (who, like the philosopher, is the same both dreaming and awake). In turn, this all ties in nicely with both Spider's Stratagem and Before the Revolution, among others of his films.


21 of 32 people found this review helpful.  Was this review helpful to you?

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Best cinematography Alexandar
Was Marcello bisexual? pogglezig
DVD release jonas_borgen
How is this a version of La dolce vita? bad-intentions
In what language did Bertolucci intend this to screen? superpanda6
nudity/sex in this movie thesidewalkwarrior
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