what I think of the The Conformist

This was my first Bertolucci film. I really enjoyed the moments of pure sexuality, and so I am thinking, since I already consider Maria Schneider unbelievably enthralling, maybe watching her simulate sex throughout a Bertolucci film will turn out to be just my cup of tea. I hope so. I love the scene introducing Guilia. The room's lights are streaming slanted beams through the window. She's wearing that black and white striped dress, and then she walks out of the room, talking about something her uncle brought from America. She turns on the record player, and starts dancing like an Egyptian cat. It really strikes my fancy. Good fun.

But that is all this film is to me, good fun. Beautiful, yes. Insightful, no. I have heard films criticized before because their visual style stymied the work as a whole. I am not sure what the critics meant (they did not explain themselves), but I feel justified in leveling a similar criticism against The Conformist. For all his outstanding technical prowess, Bertolucci's decision to refuse all freedom to his actors ultimately blunts the film's potential. It's rendered opaque. Bertolucci could not possibly have wanted the beautiful climax in which both the professor and his wife are brutally murdered to pass by me without increasing my heart rate one beat, but that's about how it played out. He doesn't provide us with a human perspective. Marcello (the protagonist) would appear to be the logical choice, but Bertolucci keeps shifting camera shots, showing us one mind-blowing view after another, instead of letting the scene settle down. I don't know if Jean-Louis Trintignant has any chops or not, but this should have been the scene in which I found out. No matter how committed Bertolucci is to his visual style, he should have let Trintignant let it rip. But he didn't. We get a muted response from Marcello, and as a result, our reaction can only be muted, at best.

My rating: 8