On Monday at 9:30 PM, Doc Films will present a 35-millimeter print of Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Conformist (1970). One of the greatest-looking movies ever made, it’s easily the most important revival screening in town this week. It remains a career best for cinematographer Vittorio Storaro, who also shot Apocalypse Now and Warren Beatty’s Reds. The Conformist features rich, deep colors and lots of gorgeous and precise camera movement; you could watch it with the sound off and it would be no less impressive. The look of the film perfectly complements its theme, which is the seductive power of fascism. The Conformist sucks you in with beautiful style, then makes you recoil at having been seduced—one’s relationship to the film is meant to mirror Italy’s relationship to the Mussolini era.
In spite of her passiveness, there’s a vitality to Giulia that meshes beautifully with Bertolucci’s mise-en-scene—the character gives life to the surroundings, adding to the seductiveness of the film’s period re-creation. Bertolucci and Storaro also make brilliant use of fascist-era architecture, reveling in its towering grandeur and deco-inspired sleekness. Throughout the movie, the duo employ precise and linear camera movements to depict complex actions. The camerawork conveys a beautiful sense of order—a visual metaphor for the orderliness that fascist leaders promised to deliver. Georges Delerue’s score adds to the hypnotic effect, complementing the musicality of the visuals.
