The Conformist (1970)
89%RT Audience Score:
Awards & Nominations: Nominated for 1 Oscar
10 wins & 8 nominations total
A commentary on fascism and beauty alike, Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Conformist is acclaimed for its sumptuous visuals and extravagant, artful cinematography
The Conformist is a film that’s so beautiful, it’s easy to forget how stark its political and allegorical message is. But don’t worry, you won’t be bored with this one. It’s a queasy combination of nostalgia and repulsion that will leave you feeling both uncomfortable and intrigued. And let’s not forget the stunning cinematography that blends the sensual haziness of ’70s European art-house fair with the high-contrast, anxious angles of film noir. It’s a masterpiece that will make you question everything you thought you knew about political involvement and the cost of such involvement. Plus, it’s the one and only quintessential all-time masterpiece that trades, extensively, on its ideal viewer’s knowledge of the history of 20th Century interior design. So, if you’re looking for a film that’s both beautiful and thought-provoking, The Conformist is the one for you.
Production Company(ies)
Focus Features, Anonymous Content This Is That Productions,
Distributor
Paramount Pictures
Release Type
Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
Cinecittà Studios, Cinecittà, Rome, Lazio, Italy
MPAA / Certificate
R
Year of Release
1971
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Mono
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Aspect ratio:1.66 : 1
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Runtime:1h 55m
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Language(s):Italian, French, Latin, Chinese
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Country of origin:China
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Oct 22, 1970 Original
Release Date (Streaming): Dec 2, 2014
Genre(s)
Drama
Keyword(s)
starring Jean-Louis Trintignant, Stefania Sandrelli, Dominique Sanda, Pierre Clémenti, Gastone Moschin, Enzo Tarascio, directed by Bernardo Bertolucci, written by Bernardo Bertolucci, Alberto Moravia, drama, fascism, beauty, artful cinematography, sumptuous visuals, box office performance, budget, reviewed by Aja Romano, Keith Phipps, Andrew O’Hehir, Calum Marsh, Violet Lucca, Joshua Rothkopf, Lloyd Steele, John Hofsess, Michael J Casey, Tony Palmer, Sean Axmaker, MPAA rating R, Italian, Maurizio Lodi-Fè produced by, Paramount Pictures distributed, Marcello Clerici, Giulia, Anna Quadri, Lino, Manganiello, Professor Quadri characters
Worldwide gross: $400,747
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $3,288,406
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,292
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 358,605
US/Canada gross: NA
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada opening weekend:
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $750,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $6,154,268
Production budget ranking: 1,841
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $3,314,073
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): -$6,179,935
ROI to date (est.): -65%
ROI ranking: 1,779
Stefania Sandrelli – Giulia
Dominique Sanda – Anna Quadri
Pierre Clémenti – Lino
Gastone Moschin – Manganiello
Enzo Tarascio – Professor Quadri
Director(s)
Bernardo Bertolucci
Writer(s)
Bernardo Bertolucci, Alberto Moravia
Producer(s)
Maurizio Lodi-Fè
Film Festivals
Cannes, Toronto
Awards & Nominations
Nominated for 1 Oscar
10 wins & 8 nominations total
Academy Awards
All Critics (56) | Top Critics (23) | Fresh (55) | Rotten (1)
It’s easy to overlook how stark The Conformist’s political and allegorical message is because it’s just so damn beautiful.
December 3, 2018
Aja Romano
Vox
TOP CRITIC
It’s yesteryear remembered with a combination of nostalgia and repulsion, a queasy combination that defines the film and gives it a kind of hideous allure.
November 24, 2014 | Rating: 5/5
Keith Phipps
The Dissolve
TOP CRITIC
The unsettling blend of images and ideas in this movie cannot satisfactorily be disentangled or decoded, and it’s the very strangeness of Bertolucci’s masterpiece that has made it so influential in cinema history.
August 29, 2014
Andrew O’Hehir
Salon.com
TOP CRITIC
Bertolucci’s boldest and most expressive film …
August 26, 2014
Calum Marsh
Village Voice
TOP CRITIC
Photographed by Vittorio Storraro, it’s a mlange of the sensual haziness of ’70s European art-house fair and the high-contrast, anxious angles of film noir
December 15, 2010
Violet Lucca
Slant Magazine
TOP CRITIC
The Conformist is celebrated for cinematographer Vittorio Storaro’s tumbling autumn leaves, but its emotional impact involves a tumbling soul.
December 15, 2010 | Rating: 5/5
Joshua Rothkopf
Time Out
TOP CRITIC
Bertolucci must now be considered one of the most distinctive creators with film.
January 11, 2020
Lloyd Steele
Los Angeles Free Press
The Conformist is a beautiful and provocative film, and its theme could not be more timely.
October 21, 2019
John Hofsess
Maclean’s Magazine
As a piece of storytelling, The Conformist is engaging and enigmatic; as a succession of images, it’s a masterpiece with jaw-dropping grandeur.
August 14, 2019
Michael J. Casey
Boulder Weekly
Its importance is that it uncomfortably relates the causes of political involvement (that clich again) and the cost of such involvement…
June 13, 2018
Tony Palmer
The Spectator
… heightened, exaggerated, distorted, the world reimagined by the filmmakers as something familiar yet not. It is magnificent …
February 12, 2016
Sean Axmaker
Seanax.com
The one and only quintessential all-time masterpiece that trades, extensively, on its ideal viewer’s knowledge of the history of 20th Century interior design.
July 25, 2015 | Rating: 10/10
Tim Brayton
Antagony & Ecstasy…
Plot
This story opens in 1938 in Rome, where Marcello has just taken a job working for Mussollini and is courting a beautiful young woman who will make him even more of a conformist. Marcello is going to Paris on his honeymoon and his bosses have an assignment for him there. Look up an old professor who fled Italy when the fascists came into power. At the border of Italy and France, where Marcello and his bride have to change trains, his bosses give him a gun with a silencer. In a flashback to 1917, we learn why sex and violence are linked in Marcello’s mind.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
No goofy or funny or odd comments were found in the Fresh Kernels database for The Conformist.
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