"The Conformist" (Not Entirely OT)

[Lloyd Fonvielle]

Perhaps the most exciting cinematic event of 2006 was the release on DVD
earlier this month -- finally, and in a terrific transfer -- of Bernardo
Bertolucci's "The Conformist".

Few films of the post-WWII era have been as influential as this one --
few films of any era have been as ravishing, as sensually exciting.

In the freewheeling atmosphere of the time, and with the final collapse
of the old studio system, Hollywood in the late Sixties was in an
experimental mood, though the experimentation often involved only
superficial stylistic gimmicks -- the hand-held camera, promiscuous
zooming, elliptical editing, split-screen images.

At the same time a new generation of filmmakers was coming into
prominence which had been schooled in, and deeply loved, the classic
Hollywood films -- among this generation were Coppola, Scorsese,
Spielberg and Lucas . . . all of them, except for Spielberg, the
products of film schools rather than of apprenticeship in the industry.

They were tackling new subjects and ones that were often more
challenging than the old studio system could embrace but they were
developing a style that owed much to the formal elegance of the cinema
of the studio era.

Then, in 1970, "The Conformist" burst onto the scene, the work of a
young Italian filmmaker who had not only mastered the formal elegance of
the old studio style but was taking it into new realms of expressiveness
and invention. Indeed, "The Conformist" had something of the visual
eloquence of the highest achievements of the silent era, of Murnau's and
Vidor's films, whose extravagant poetic imagery had been lost with the
coming of sound.

The effect was electric -- confirming all the creative instincts of the
American film-school avant garde. The movie was so important to Coppola
that he, along with a number of other American directors, personally
lobbied its distributor to release the film in the United States. He
used one of its actors in "The Godfather, Part II", and its visual style
influenced every frame of Coppola's masterpiece.

Bertolucci never made another film quite like it. His visual
imagination, his gift for dynamic plastic composition and choreography
within the frame stayed fresh, but was often lavished on unworthy
material and degenerated into mere mannerism.

"The Conformist" was of a piece because its story and its visual style
reinforced each other. Bertolucci was, in the film, breaking
dramatically from the severe aesthetic strategies and rigorous
intellectualism of his mentor Godard, indulging himself frankly in the
cinema's power for sensual seduction -- all the while telling the tale
of a promising student who betrays the political ideals of his old
professor and eventually collaborates in the professor's murder.

"The Conformist" remains alive with the allure of forbidden pleasures,
tense with the guilt of giving in to them. The film is erotic but
disturbing -- a dynamic that Bertolucci would explore more explicitly in
"Last Tango In Paris", but without the organic emotional coherence of
the earlier film.

"The Conformist" also marked the emergence of its cinematographer
Vitorio Storaro as an artist of international stature -- but that's a
subject for a future post . . .

Mar de Cortes Baja

www.mardecortesbaja.com <http://www.mardecortesbaja.com/blog>

[Bill Vermillion]

In article <J_plh.15280$_44....@newsfe23.lga>,

Lloyd Fonvielle <ll...@fabulousnoSPAMwhere.com> wrote:
>Perhaps the most exciting cinematic event of 2006 was the release on DVD
>earlier this month -- finally, and in a terrific transfer -- of Bernardo
>Bertolucci's "The Conformist".

Thanks for that info. I also saw that "1900" was released at the
same time. Now I can replace my aging laserdisk with a new copy.

Bill
--
Bill Vermillion - bv @ wjv . com

[Lloyd Fonvielle]

Bill Vermillion wrote:

If I recall correctly, the laserdisc was cropped -- the DVD is
widescreen. Makes a huge difference with this film.

There's a report on "1900" at my web site, below:

[kino eye]

> >
> >>Perhaps the most exciting cinematic event of 2006 was the release on DVD
> >>earlier this month -- finally, and in a terrific transfer -- of Bernardo
> >>Bertolucci's "The Conformist".

I agree that this is one of the great films of the decade.

Bertolucci was interviewed once about his directing. He said something
like: directing is easy with one exception--getting a crowd in a room,
and getting them out. "That's what directing boils down to...how to get
people into a room, and how to get them out."

I think that's one of those simple but fantastic observations. Next
time you watch The Conformist, pay attention to the scenes of people
entering and leaving, and watch what a great job he does with the
"task" of getting people in and out of rooms.

[daniel...@verizon.net]

kino eye wrote:

> Bertolucci was interviewed once about his directing. He said something
> like: directing is easy with one exception--getting a crowd in a room,
> and getting them out. "That's what directing boils down to...how to get
> people into a room, and how to get them out."
>
> I think that's one of those simple but fantastic observations.

Coincidentally, that's what Lawrence Block once said about writing
novels.

[Lloyd Fonvielle]

kino eye wrote:

Wow. That's really interesting. It's not something you usually think
about, because it's so easy in films to just cut in and out of rooms,
rather than have to manage entrances and exits as the stage requires.
But Bertolucci is often more interested in the way people move and the
way spaces open onto other spaces than he is in straight narrative
exposition.

I can't wait to watch the films again with this aspect of things in mind.

[Bill Vermillion]

In article <Qcgmh.28431$_44....@newsfe23.lga>,

Lloyd Fonvielle <ll...@fabulousnoSPAMwhere.com> wrote:
>Bill Vermillion wrote:

>> In article <J_plh.15280$_44....@newsfe23.lga>,
>> Lloyd Fonvielle <ll...@fabulousnoSPAMwhere.com> wrote:
>>
>>>Perhaps the most exciting cinematic event of 2006 was the release on DVD
>>>earlier this month -- finally, and in a terrific transfer -- of Bernardo
>>>Bertolucci's "The Conformist".
>>
>> Thanks for that info. I also saw that "1900" was released at the
>> same time. Now I can replace my aging laserdisk with a new copy.

>If I recall correctly, the laserdisc was cropped -- the DVD is
>widescreen. Makes a huge difference with this film.

I have so many things I can't keep them straight and can't lay my
hands on my LD at the moment. I do recall it was a gatefold disk
set. I also know that I almost always got widescreen versions of
films.

>There's a report on "1900" at my web site, below:

I'll check that out.

>
>
>Mar de Cortes Baja
>
>www.mardecortesbaja.com <http://www.mardecortesbaja.com/blog>

Bill

[Lloyd Fonvielle]

Bill Vermillion wrote:

> In article <Qcgmh.28431$_44....@newsfe23.lga>,
> Lloyd Fonvielle <ll...@fabulousnoSPAMwhere.com> wrote:

>>If I recall correctly, the laserdisc was cropped -- the DVD is
>>widescreen. Makes a huge difference with this film.
>
> I have so many things I can't keep them straight and can't lay my
> hands on my LD at the moment. I do recall it was a gatefold disk
> set. I also know that I almost always got widescreen versions of
> films.

I used to be a laserdisc guy, too, and I never bought "The Conformist"
because it was cropped -- but maybe I missed finding out about a
widescreen edition somewhere along the way.

In any case, the new DVD is superb.