This is the first film I've seen by Bertolucci, and it's quite a good start. The film has a very different feel and atmosphere from other films, due to its great cinematography and dazzling non-linear editing. The cinematography is put in the foreground here, purposing as a continuous theme and giving us insight into the main character. The film takes place in the 1930's, during the reign of Mussolini. The main character Marcello is a fascist working for the government. Conformist at that time in Italy meant the same as fascist. However Marcello's ideals and motivation is kept fairly ambivalent.
While many mention the great cinematography, I would like to mention the great editing in this film. It uses a mix of weird jump-cuts and flashback techniques, but remains very subtle and mysterious in the first half hour, letting the story unfold slowly. Other than letting the audience guess at the plot, this special editing also gives us a unique view of the protagonist, giving us several viewpoints in time of him. This works very well with the focused cinematography which effectively tells us what is past and present. The visuals are made to give us a view into the mind of Marcello, for example, in a scene where he meets his fiance who he is marrying just to seem "normal" is lit with very sharp and contrasting lights, looking like prison bars. Such a technique is used throughout, really creating a great character study.
However, at times the psychological exploration does seem a little weak, using a form of psychoanalysis to explain the protagonist's behavior. This, I feel, often works very weak in films, two good examples are Hitchcock's Spellbound and Marnie, where such explanations seem contrived and cheap. It's not as bad in The Conformist as other films, and the film does not suffer that much from it. While this analysis of his past is fairly weak, the study of him in the "present" of the film is excellent, the film creates its world around him, and there is always much to look out for to analyze the character. The film is very focused and always works towards creating a portrait of the protagonist. This makes you feel as though no time is wasted, every shot matters, and the film continues to work towards a grand scheme.
While the cinematography always works towards developing the character, it is unavoidable not to mention the sheer beauty of the shots in this film, probably what it is most celebrated for. The shots are meticulously composed, showing pictures of almost aching beauty. This together with the grand score should leave the audience transfixed, and at the same time unraveling a genuinely interesting plot and character. It's quite impressive how all the elements of this film, while great on their own, work towards a single purpose and goal, pushing this film quite above the average.
Despite one itching little flaw, this film is as close to a masterpiece as it could be. It's not the best film I've ever seen, it's not even the best Italian film I've seen, however, it stands out as a truly original piece of film making that has raised my standards of what a normal film should achieve to an absurd level.
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