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Absorbing the breakthroughs of the French New Wave and the burgeoning New Hollywood era and applying them to the artier ends of Bernardo Bertolucci’s native Italian cinema, The Conformist presents a façade of overwhelming cinematic beauty only to reveal the rotten soul beneath its surface. Vittorio Storaro’s cinematography captures Rome and Paris with an Antonioniesque eye for architectural detail, swooning camera movements, and even instances of color timing so extreme that certain shots recall the hand-tinted process of early silent film.

The precision of The Conformist’s images, though, only exacerbates the detached, inhuman alienation of the film’s protagonist, Marcello (Jean-Louis Trintignant). He’s the last scion of a diminished aristocratic line whose exhausted wealth and status are symbolized by an expansive but dilapidated and mildewing family villa occupied by a mother (Milly) who copes with a loss of status with copious amounts of opiates (his father...

The Conformist

Written and directed by Bernardo Bertolucci

Italy, 1970

When first introduced to the improved quality of Blu-ray technology, there were about a dozen films I couldn’t wait to see in the format. These were movies of extraordinary beauty that I knew would surely benefit from the enhanced visual resolution. Now, with the arrival of Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Conformist on a stunning new Raro Video edition, another one of those titles can be scratched off the list. What makes this an exciting release, however, goes beyond the look of the picture (though that is paramount). This is, in every regard, one of the greatest films ever made.

The Conformist is a complex chronicle of the tormented, ruthless, and devious Marcello Clerici (Jean-Louis Trintignant), a rising-through-the-ranks Fascist enforcer. The film is a fascinating look at the extent to which one will go to escape the past, fit in with the present,...

With the run of classics that American filmmakers churned out in the studio system during the '70s, it's easy to forget that Italian master Bernardo Bertolucci also delivered some of his finest work during the decade. Across those ten years he delivered "The Spider's Stratagem," "Last Tango In Paris," "1900," and, for many of us here around the office, a personal favorite, "The Conformist." Now that it's been freshly restored for home video, we've got a few copies to share with you. Starring Jean-Louis Trintignant, Stefania Sandrelli, Dominique Sanda, Gastone Moschin, Pierre Clementi, Enzo Tarascio, and José Quaglio, the film follows a secret police agent, Marcelo Clerici, who is dispatched to assassinate his old professor, Quadri. Clerici uses his honeymoon with his new wife Giulia as the perfect cover under which to carry out his assignment. While on his mission, however, he becomes obsessed with the professor's wife...