Made in 1970 and adapted from a novel by Alberto Moravia, Bernardo Bertolucci's The Conformist is a stylish piece of cinema. The “hero'” of the piece is Marcello (Jean-Louis Trintignant), a weak-willed young man scarred by a childhood incident with a chauffeur who tried to seduce him. In order to achieve a semblance of normality, Marcello marries Giulia (Stefania Sandrelli), a middle-class girl who is “good in bed and good in the kitchen”.

More sinister, however, is his attraction to the Italian Fascist party, for whom he is recruited as a lackey. On his honeymoon in Paris, Marcello is told to seek out and assassinate his former professor, now living as a dissident. But Anna, the professor's seductive wife, throws the already unstable Marcello off balance. Particularly memorable scenes include a party at a home for the blind and Giulia and Anna's exhibitionist, sexually charged tango.

15, 111min

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