From:
Date: Fri, Oct 1, 2010 at 11:21 AM
Subject: Re: Scheduled film for 21 May 2010
To: rdca25@gmail.com
Joseph, Candy Jiang, Tiffany, Eileen, Mamie, Max, Alice Wang, Abby, Christine, Charlene, Juliet, Karen, Vivian Lin, Hansel, Carolina, Katherine, David, Ivana, Vicky Lin, Sophia, Emily, Ida, Tina, Jeanette, Hazel, Minnie, Violet, Holly, Vicky Shih, Chin, Vincent, John, Vivian Yang, Alice Huang, Christopher, Cherry,
JosephFirst of all, the cinematographer frequently used flashbacks in this film in order to make the cause-and-effect relationship between each incident happening to Marcello's previous life. These parallel events all lead to the same and present consequence—Marcello was in the car with Manganiello, both of whom were about to implement their secret mission. In my opinion, the arrangement of these events is well-organized, clearly showing those which would have great impact on Marcello's future. Between those events, the most impressive technique used in this film to me is intercutting, especially between getting into the car in his childhood and the present. It was not used only one time, but several times during this scene.
The title of this film suggests the personality of the character, Marcello. He conforms to the Fascist government, he conforms to the tradition in the society, he conforms to his wife and Anna (Although in the end, he did not conform to what Anna required for). He chooses to marry his wife because he wants to follow the tradition and satisfies his mother. In many sex scenes, he is more submissive than the female characters. His behavior is controlled and commanded by the women. In addition, there are some scenes in this film showing that Marcello is entrapped in crowds. One of them appears at the very end of the film, which means Marcello is still a conformist.
Candy JiangThis film seems to be hard to understand because the director used lots of flashbacks to narrate the story. However, the way the editor linked the present and the past is jumpy, breaking its continuity. The sudden cut to the past disoriented me, and I can't link every seemingly distinct sequence together to form a reasonable plot until to the very end of the film.
As for the plot, what confused me is that, at the beginning of the film, Marcello seemed to rush to save a girl whom I later know was Anna. However, when Anna was knocking the window of the car in which Marcello was sitting for help, he did nothing but coldly watched her broke down, and then was killed. He was meant to save her life since they secretly loved each other, then why when the time come, he changed his mind to let her die?
Some shots are worth mentioning. When Marcello and Giulia, his wife, were eating dinner with Anna and Luca Quadri, Anna's husband, the camera went from two feet touching and then tilted up to the table to show people's faces. This showed that Marcello and Anna's love is a secret affair since they all have their own spouse. However, they still dared enough to darkly flirt with each other with their spouses in present. Later in this sequence, the camera panned to a few tables away from Marcello's table. Then the camera showed Manganiello, who had been chasing Marcello all day.
TiffanyIn this film, gun is an important prop. Those who have gun equally have the power of controlling other people. For example, when Marcello gives his gun to Manganiello, Manganiello suddenly hug Marcello strongly just like a man hugging a woman and persuade Marcello to finish his mission. The scene also implies homosexual personality between these two men. And gun also symbolizes the image of male sexual organ. When Lino wants child Marcello to kiss him (her), the gun rightly put in front of position of his sexual organ. In addition, there is complex technique of flashback in this film. Sometimes I was confused what the scene is and who is the man. The plenty of flashback implies Marcello's past has great influence on his present life.
EileenContrast to The passion of Joan of Arc, The Conformist uses more long shots that I can see more than one person's interaction. Some of the shots just look like a beautiful and magnificent pictures. It's weird that in the shot of Anna's death. When she got the last shot I see there are full of blood on her face, but when she fell down there are no any blood on her face. Maybe the blood is Anna's own imagination and it means that she is hurt. The most impressed scene for me is the one that Marcello sees the "Father" having sex, it has a rapid zoom in. The rapid zoom in seems like Marcello is really shock of seeing it.
MamieThe Conformist is a film that skillfully combines politic and sexuality. I think the whole film makes good use of colors. For instance, the opening red-tinted sequence shows indulgence of desire and Marcello's sense of doubt. In my opinion, red color in this film both symbolizes totalitarian and repressed sexual desire. The final shots which are also shown by red-tinted shot strengthen Marcello's anxiety. In addition, the extreme white stairs and background when Marcello meets his father creates a surreal atmosphere. The color white often means purity and freedom; however, there is a big contrast in this scene, the father asks to be restricted actively. As a result, the theme of totalitarian is easy to find out.
Here I want to talk about Marcello's sexuality. I think he and Anna are both bisexuals. However, in their deep of minds, they want to be homosexual. Consequently, they pretend to marry opposite sex but they cannot hide their desire for homosexual. Homosexuality is forbidden by the fascism so they just pretend to be normal couples. Maybe Marcello's affection toward Anna is a trick because he wants to kill her, but I don't understand why Anna wants to seduce Marcello. Does she love him?
MaxThere are some flashbacks in this movie. Some are very useful and clearly explain the events, while others are not connected with the main plots well, the transition of which is too abrupt for the viewers to know what is going on. However, its use of probs is indeel great. The door and wall's separating the couple, for example, excellently indicates the "distance" between them. At the end of this film, the crowd passing the man is a great symbol—He has no choice but to follow others in the world and force himself to become a normal man who should marry a female as what the title means. Unfortunately, he gets lost and suffers from this as if he were in a cage or jail painfully. The red light makes the sence looks like the man is in hell, and it tops off this movie.
Alice WangThe Conformist is a well-acclaimed movie in many aspects. Whether in the way it is edited or the artistic way it is shot, it can be regarded as a classic piece. The way the director show the story to the audience is quite special, throughout the film several flashbacks are emerged into the plot, indicating the thoughts of the main characters or maybe trying to suggest the reasons of their actions. Regarding the plot, it is quite clear that most of the characters in the film are conformists, especially Marcello. It is quite obvious that Marcello never bothers to object to the trend of the society, he strives to conform to the society, trying to be as normal as anyone can be, even oppressing all the desires he has that may not be accepted by the society then. However, doing so doesn't allow him to lead a pleasant life that he longs for and in the end it leads to a tragedy. On the other hand, the artistic way the scenes are shown is also quite impressive. The use of lights or the special ways of shooting easily catches the eyes of the audience. For instance, the scene with the stripes on Guilia's dress echoing with the lights from the window sheds and the scene at Marcello's mother's house with the withered leaves blew by the breeze are eye-catching examples.
AbbyTo me, the most impressive thing about this movie is its lighting. At the beginning of the movie, it is the unusual red light. And the movie ends the same way as the beginning, with the red light as well. In the movie, there are scenes with the unusual blue light, too. And it is quiet interesting that the movie includes not only the low-key lighting, but also the high-key lighting. It is interesting because that low-key lighting usually depicts the gloomy scenes while the high-key lighting depicts the surreal scenes, and the plot could conclude these two elements in the movie. There is a contrast between Giulia nad Anna Qudri, I think they are quite different types of women. And there is a scene quite unnatural. It is when Marcello Clerici and Prefessor Quadri are talking in the room, the lamp keeps swinging and never stops during the talking.
ChristineLike the name of the movie The conformist in literal, Marcello was a guy that conformed the society in order to be normal. In his mother land Italy, where Fascist was at the time prevailing, he took the advice if his blind friend Italio to join the group of Fascist fellows whose work was about asassination of the opposition. Which was ironically that later we saw him not only blind physically but the blindly insistency of Fascist.
The two female characters happened to represent two struggle forces in mind of Marcello- conformity and unconformity. He had chose to marry Giuila to build up a normal family and to have a child, however, after he met the professer's wife Anna, he was appealed to her uncomformity. Anna's body gestures, wearings and the way she thinks and talk are anything but a normal lady would do. Marcello was attracted by the confidence but was too weak to follow. Finally, he chose to kill the professor couple only too coward to live against the stream. While at last, when the Fascist were overthrown, Marcello got mad because his belief to be normal were no longer exist.
Several shots and mise en scene are interesting to talk about. The one with a hand-held camera that do the shaking POV shot vividly broght us to the spot when Anna was chased by the killers and the long shot of the chief's office create a level difference. Others like the all-white building of psychotics create a clear and clean atmosphere that seems do not exist in Marcello's life, for psychotics are out of the burden of living society.
CharleneI notice the effect of red-tinted sequence in the first beginning of the film, with Marcello sitting alone in the bed, seeming to have something bothering him. I can see his isolation at that time, but as the camera moves, I am surprised to see there is actually a woman lying on the bed. And I begin to think that maybe that's how the red-tinted sequence functions. It shows a change within a doubt in this film.
And I believe this film is also another one with some sexual motifs, including both homosexual and heterosexual aspects. I think the gun motif becomes vague as the story goes on (also associates with sex and politics). I don't know whether it represents, a repression of homosexuality or heterosexuality of Marcello.
I like the shot of blowing leaves at the ground, and then the shot is taken to the car where the two characters stand. The movement is very beautiful with the background music. I think I would mistake it as a romantic movie once without the context of the film because I am totally stunned by its amazement of that shot, showing the film is more photographed than directed.
JulietI praise one setting in The Conformist. That is the setting where only a counter and some simple decorations are placed in the middle of a grand place. As far as I am concerned, the properties in this setting are used well. Namely, those simple but grand decors actually enhance the solemn atmosphere of the Fascist secret police department. Moreover, by using the extreme long shot to shoot this setting, the whole setting can be seen clearly but the characters are seen to be trivial. In my opinion, this use of long shot successfully helps to convey the feeling of severity, and even makes a distinct contrast between the size of place and of characters. What's more, one scene of The Conformist impresses me a lot. That is leaves blowing scene. I think that this scene gives an impressive grand view, and also presents an idea. In my opinion, that leaves can represent the main protagonist—Marcello Clerici (Jean-Louis Trintignant). That is, that leaves are blown by the wind can represent that Marcello is controlled by the trend. In other words, Marcello conforms to the Fascism blindly.
KarenThe cinematography and editing make The Conformist an interesting film to study. The particular lightings, the red- and blue-tinted shots, and the extraordinary shooting angles, such as the canted angle shots, which appear to unbalance the world, all reveal the unique style of the cinematographer. Moreover, the flashback and another flashback during the confession complicate but also connect the conformist, Marcello's future and his past. Marcello's passive relation with his wife and his repressed homosexuality make me feel that maybe he has no passion for her. The honeymoon is even in the plan of the assassination, and Guilia is merely a sacrificial lamb of her husband's mission. By the way, I like the dance between Anna and Guilia very much, because they both are graceful and the scene is really gorgeous. The underscores are also essential in this film, since it help to develop the scenes. I think this movie is complicated and obscure in meaning, and maybe we have to see it twice or more to fully understand this movie.
Vivian LinIn my opinion, the film's atmosphere is cold and detached from the beginning to the end. Marcello is related to the name of the film, a conformist who follows trend without thoughts and belief. He is indifferent and coldhearted person when he rejects to help Anna and betrays his blind friend. The season is winter in the film so that whole movie gives me a hopelessness. Although, when they are in Paris, the dance scene invents a delightful feeling. It is just the moment, then the film becomes dark. Anna dies in the snow white forest. It is the most impressive scene for me. It is beautiful but cruel like the film.
HanselThe film has rich and beautiful colors but they contrast with a kind of sorrow and loneliness. The lighting is beautiful and sometimes it brings out the struggle of two sides like light and darkness, obey and disobey. The shooting angles are special, too. The film portrays how conformity gradually makes a person numb and undermines one person. Through the sad life of Marcello, we get to know the cost of conformity. The film tries to prevent people from stepping on the road that Marcello has chosen.
CarolinaAlthough I am not sure if I am capable or not to determine this statement, I will determinedly affirm that this movie has a very powerful poetic effects on its images. It reminds me of many novels that I have read, for example the Spanish writer Ruiz Zafon. The audience can notice the beauty of the complete mise-en-scene in each scene. It might also be determined as surreal, gorgeously surreal, which makes me want to live in that period of time.
The movie also leaves a doubt of whether Marcello is heterosexual, bisexual or homosexual due to his childhood traumatic encounter. Though he got married, but it seems that he is not deeply in love with his wife Guilia. He even watched Anna, whom supposedly was his true love, to be murdered. So, this event leads me to wonder but the director does not give a further explanation.
Both female characters – Anna and Guilia – are exceptionally stunning and elegant. The wardrobe is very good chosen as they appear to be some ladies from a master painting. The scene of the dancing is beautiful, as Guilia is not aware of the affair between Anna and Marcello. Naively, she enjoys the sympathy from Anna and her husband. Another question arises in my mind: Does she notice her husband's affair in the end of the movie? I think she knows that Marcello is not deeply in love with her. Women tend to have the instinct because of their men's behavior. Guilia is alone to face the black out and the crying of their son, which might symbolize her loneliness in their marriage.
KatherineThis film is a very unique one. The tile name "conformist" means the obedient one. In the film, there are many sudden cuts in between scenes and scenes. But we can still imagine what have happened. For example, at the scene that when he was thirteen. He was taken to a room by a man. Though we didn't see the process, we knew what the man had done to him. In the film, the director used lots of flash back to present the story to us. Though sometimes we might got lost in the movie, we can still enjoy it in such a interesting way.
DavidThe Conformist is adapted from the masterpiece of Alberto Moravia. In the film, to Marcello, nothing is more important than himself. He cares nothing but his own benefit. His marriage can be assumed as conformity to traditional social concepts. He can betray his wife, betray his mistress, and even betray Fascism. He does not have faith. All the things he does is in order to conform the rule of the society. When Marcello goes to his mother's house, the director uses Dutch-angle shot. Maybe it indicates the distorted values of Marcello? I am not sure.
IvanaThe whole film is connected with politics. To me, the wide use of canted angles, the dwarfed man and the passive characteristics are sarcasm on fascists. Canted angle shots on streets and buildings represent a twisted world, as Germany and Italy under totalitarianism. Likewise, Marcello is often dwarfed in the shots, possibly suggesting that a trivial man can do nothing under the unbalanced political power, because all one can do in the fascist society is passively follow the order of the leader.
Vicky LinIn this movie, The Conformist, there are two parts that I am so impressive of. The first one is the canted angle shots when the character, Marcello goes to see her mother. In this way, it makes the audiences feel unbalanced of the world. I think it also shows that the unbalanced mind of Marcello himself and his mother and his broken family. The second one is the scene in the psychiatric hospital. Marcello goes to there to visit his insane father. The director uses the high-key lighting and the extreme long shot in these scenes. The high-key lighting makes me feel that the people in the room are really insane. Also, it shows that the world there is not normal, just like those illusions in the insane people's minds, is unreal.
SophiaThe Conformist combines political issue and sexual implication. The political issue is about the Fascist in Italy while the film implies sex by intimate interaction between men and women. The film is stylish because the director takes shots at special angles. In particular, those special shots make the extension of a room to create the deepness. Combined with light, a room becomes extended and spatial. Furthermore, the color of the film is special because the director uses different colors like red, orange and blue. The director uses the color boldly to make a good try in cinematography. There are a lot of close body interactions between Marcello and Giulia. It brings some implication like the lust of love. All in all, the Conformist was a pioneer in 1970 at that time.
EmilyThis film is a political filmwhich talks about a man who joins the Fascist secret police faces the dilemma- protects his lover and runs away or obey the direction to kill his former professor . We knows the character is suffered from the bad past experiences. The director uses many flashbacks to tell the past about the character. Through the flashbacks, we know the bad childhood and homosexual memories of Marcello and know he is tortured by them. The two female characters- Giulia and Anna, presents the obey and disobey. Giulia accepts the suffering silently; however, Anna chooses to go with his husband.
The directors uses complicated flashbacks and scenes jump from one time to another time. Besides, the director uses film editing very well.
IdaBeautiful, all the scenes in The Conformist are extremely beautiful and stunning. No matter the elegant camera movements, the opening tinted shot, the sharp contrast of black and white, the jumping scenes between past and now, the Italian and French shooting location, the love tango or the characters, personally I think that Ana is very beautiful, all of them are very beautiful. This film mainly talks about Marcello, a repressed confused homosexual striving for normality in his life. In order to have a normal family, he gets married. In order to be admitted, he works hard for the fascist party, even accept the mission to meet his former professor during the honeymoon. However, when he finds that he needs to assassinate the professor and is being attracted by his wife, he meets his sexual and political dilemma and recalls his memory of murdering the chauffeur, which is also the reason why he tries so hard to find normality. However, I somehow think that
this scene comes and ends too suddenly, it does not give me a deep impression although it is a very important factor of this film. To sum up, The Conformist is an abnormal beautiful film. (To some extent, its ending is not as happy as other films) It somehow looks like a drama as it is so gorgeous; it also looks like a suspense film as some scenes really makes me feel nervous.
TinaThe décor of this film is sophisticatedly chosen and arranged. For example, the white sheets hanging, implying the innocence of Marcello, while the young Marcello encounters with Lino. In addition, the décor is ironic when Marcello kisses and shots Lino in a white room with a big cross, since the deeds in this holy room is sinful. The fox Giulia receives from Anna should represent something as well. Maybe it is seduction?
The director makes special use of lighting in the film. Sometimes there is high key lighting, like the lighting in the outdoor scenes of Marcello visiting his house. But there are also many scenes with low key lighting, in which the light beams or resources are changeful. For instance, the scenes Marcello on Manganiello's car and the ending sequences when Marcello breaks out. In these scenes, the instable lighting may suggest the chaotic inner world of the character.
JeanetteFrankly speaking, I didn't catch the main point of this film. But, I'm impressed by the dancing scene at the almost end of the movie. Two dancing women contrast with the two men sitting. It seems that the attraction between the two women (somehow symbolize homosexuality?) inspire the crowd to dance together. It's kind of funny when I saw the crowd even actually dance outside the restaurant with hands holding each other. When they dance back inside, when the protagonist is standing in the middle, the crowd then circles around the protagonist. This creates a sense of confusion, just as the body language shown by the protagonist. I think I like the way "confusion" is presented.
HazelIt is quite interesting that the set of the characters and mise-en-scène are, somehow, having a symbolic meaning. All of them follow the trend and to cater other's needs. Just like people get hand in hand to form a long queue in the ball. The long line is the main stream, which is thought to be normal because it is shared by most people. In the beginning, Marcello and Quadri take no part in it and chat with each other, however, Marcello are rounded by the long queue and become the center of the circle. Marcello is the one who goes with the stream also the one who doesn't want to get into troubles. Besides, while seeing those oncoming revolutionary masses, Marcello realizes that he cannot join them. He can only look at them going far away. However, Marcello is on the horns of a dilemma. The one who is go adrift will finally be abandoned by others and lead to unfortunate.
MinnieConcerning the movie's story
- The scene, when he shouts out that his friend is a fascist, looks very desperate and I felt disgust. Considering his childhood, his efforts to transfer to the normal life is very pity. He joined a fascist party by himself. It's because he don't want his life different from others as like his childish experience. Anyway, a main character really strives to be a normal person of society. But his tries were failed. We could infer that from the 'dance scene'. Every people in the ball look happy. They hold hand to hand and dance. But only the main character looks lost something in the middle of the people.
- When this movie was begun, credits said this story has no related any other countries and features. But this movie reminds me one scene from "The last emperor". His friend who betrayed his true friend isn't different from "the majesty" of "The last emperor."
Concern to the movie's technique
- The most eye-catching technique of the movie was a 'Mise-en-Scene'. To my surprise, it divides space into two and combined them into one.
- I could guess how the main character feels from several scenes. For example, I felt 'dry' when I saw dead leaves scattered away around the car in the garden.
VioletWhen I watched this movie at first, I feel that music is very efficient and appropriate. The silent melody with organ rhythm makes me tensed. Most of the set are all white and stern. We can see these atmospheres at the scene that a man walks on the side of big and uniform window. When I found that stern image of film, <The Island (2005) _ Michael Benjamin Bay> came across my mind. People who are in white set are manipulated by big main power same as <The Island>. And same as the scene of the mental hospital, Marcello and his mother go to the hospital to meet his father. The hospital is all white and every one in their have no thinking. And also his mother's house was almost white, maybe DP tries to show us the irrational and unusual situation.
DP use the color and lighting properly also he knew that how use its transform quite freely. So it makes the film succeed for visualizing the subject. Also DP makes each scene's visualize suitable on each atmosphere, and he overwhelm crowds by using these effects. It can see clearly this point, when the professor and Marcello make a discussion about the fascism. Intentionally DP makes the room closed for getting the shadow from only window. The professor said that Marcello just follow the shadow not real a world. And DP explains that situation by showing us the real shadow.
I think that this film's DP knows how use the light and darkness efficiently. When Marcello argues with Mangello in the china restaurant kitchen, two men was in the corner and the electric lamp was wavering. So two man's face are lighted and got dark over again. It makes us feel tense and instable.
HollyIn the very beginning of the movie, the red-tinted sequence isolates Marcello and gives sense of solitude, danger and unpredictability. Lots of close-ups make the emphasis on Marcello's facial expression. He is calm and rational, acting like a gentle, noble man, seldom losing control. Hard to identify, Marcello's character is capricious. He strictly demands himself; every body movement he makes, every sentence and word he says is meaningful, paving the road for the next action. Compared with joy and happiness, Marcello's life is a combination of sorrow, agony and melancholy. One scene exaggerates this contrast. Marcello has a serious discussion with the manager, standing in front of the chorus, with his face tensed and stressful. The chorus enjoys singing, hanging a big smile on the face; while Marcello is set apart of the relaxing atmosphere, concentrating a lot on his coming mission. Long shots or extreme long shots not only make every actor insignificantly smaller, but, with the deliberately enlarged distance, separate one man from the other, extending the gap between each other. Mostly, long shots characterize the man as cold and autarchic, but with loneliness and sadness.
The dancing scene is intelligent. People's revelry contrasts Marcello's loads in mind. Anna and Guilia are quite different in personality. Anna is more mature, good at scheming and making social contact. Guilia is childlike, with smiles and laughers most of the time. She is rude sometimes, but in fact she is the most sincere one in this film, without disguise or lies, living for her love and life. The blue-tinted sequence of Marcello visiting Anna accentuate on Anna's sexual seduce. The color blue cool down the passion of the shot but give sense of strange and weirdness, predicting a tragedy is going to happen. What's more, blue reflects on Marcello's inner thought, depressed, gloomy and downhearted. Anna's face and that of Marcello bear certain similarity in this scene. They seem to love each other but they also tries to make an explanation of their behaviors, thinking about the other one or taking advantage of this fake relationship.
Marcello is not the winner of this love triangle in the end. He seems to lose his mind in my interpretation. However, his over-reaction to the young man may be the rebellious resist against his rations, since he has been suppressed his emotions for such a long time. The man serves as a transition in his life. Even so calm when facing his daughter and wife or witnessing Anna' death, the strong man, Marcello breaks down eventually, shouting like a beast, crying out the unfairness in his life.
Vicky ShihIl Conformista is the film directed by Bernardo Bertolucci in 1970. Its background was in Italy when the Fascism pervaded all the Italy that time. The leading role Marcello was the typical conformist who had no his own free consciousness. He just followed the trend of the society. He joined the Fascism and finally rebelled against it were just followed the public. Even his marriage also only catered to the concept in the society, not to meet his own need. The film used many metaphors to represent conformity. It really reveals the general phenomenon of the society. After watching the movie, I think we should take it as an alert!
ChinThis is a movie which use a lot of flashback. I think nowadays movie will use black and white or not-so-clear images to show the differences between reality and flashback, in which I think, is better because we will not confuse by the story if there is any insertion of flashback. In The Conformist, I like the way the producer do the framing, such as the use of mirror to separate Marcello and the singers in the very beginning of the film. Except to show the isolation of Marcello, I think it is also the line to separate the reality and the unreal world. Besides that, the use of canted angles show the imbalanced world in The Conformist, which also one of the reasons I like this movie. I found there is a contrast between the deep focus and the meaning. In my opinion, a deep focus of the interior of the building can show the dignity of a place, but in The Conformist, the use of deep focus doesn't seem like what I think. Marcello sees the Father having sex; the scene which Marcello visits his father. In the end of this film, I get a little bit confused about the relationship among the actors.
VincentThis is the first Italian film this semester so far, I think. In this film, familiar scenes and familiar story keep haunting me. I think it is hard to realize the film if you just watch it once. The story happened in Italy, 1940s . Such historical background really impress me. There are a lot of describing of human being's emotion and status of mood. Those describing makes me think of Sigmund Freud. I guess maybe Freud's theory has affect this film.
During watching the Conformist, I discovered some special point about the skill of shooting. Refined lighting, rare angle of shooting, and using of a variety of colored filter make the whole movie much more unique. And the most important of all, those way of shooting makes a style that only belong to the photographer. I think it's really impressive that a photographer can create an
Irreplaceable style. And in this film, the photographer did it.
JohnI think most of people who have watched this film will attract by its formation of story. The director didn't use the traditional way "Begin to the End", but used the complicated recalling way to express this film. Each part of it seemed doesn't connect together, and the time wasn't continuous. It really makes me confused. I think the film editing skill is very special, but I can't describe it completely in English. The screen of psychiatric hospital is impressive.
Vivian YangThe Conformist, is quite fascinating as far as cinematography is concerned. One of my favorite scene is at the kitchen of the Chinese restaurant, where the lamp keeps swinging as the conversation goes on. The characters become invisable occasionally, which cause a suspicious and tese atmosphere.
Another fantastic scene is when Marcello encounters Lino, who represents homosexualism. Marcello's anger fades out with a marching crowd. The visual impact (a single and a crowd) and the sound effect (from silent to noisy, and then back to silent) are impressive. And it somewhat implies Marcello's sense of isolation and out-of-place.
For me, The Conformist is a movie that worth watching several times. Every mise-en-scene, every shot has its own distinctive effect in the film, and they altogether make The Conformist a masterpiece.
Alice HuangThe title in English, "The conformist," means someone who obeys the rules no matter for the sake of the religion or the society. This theme is shown well by the protagonist's inner struggle; that is, though he wants to pursue a normal and tranquil life, he fails because of his conformity to what he believes to be on the "correct way."
This kind of mental conflict can be seen in different scenes and different shooting techniques. Especially the director does make good use of lighting in the whole film. For example, in one of Marcello's flashbacks, he was talking to his friend, Italo. Within this scene, the evident contrast between "black and white" was displayed between the studio room which was shot in high-key lighting and the room in which they stayed which is a low-key lighting shot. I think this part can be served as a function of showing Marcello's inner struggling.
The other example lies in the scene in which there is a long sequence of tilt shots when Marcello is walking around in the town and looking for a job. In my opinion, this is a typically-used technique to show the unbalance and chaos of the protagonist's state of mind.
Marcello's friend, Italo, is a significant symbol in this movie. Due to the fact that Italo is blind, it can be described as that he represents Marcello's confusion and blind following to what he thinks as being ordinary. Italo, this character, make the idea that Marcello is really a "conformist" easy to be read.
Christopher<The conformist> is directed by Bernardo Bertolucci, and based on the same name novel by Alberto Moravia. The story focus on his mission during his honeymoon, to assassinate his teacher, Professor Quadri.
There are some impressive scenes like the huge hall and spacious space that express the idea of isolation. From the flashbacks we know that the protagonist Marcello Clerici has been humiliated by his classmates, later a man called Lino, rescued him and attempted homosexual relationship with him. Marcello grabbed the pistol shooting him in a flurry, after all, he keep himself feeling of guilty. To due with this kind guilty conscience, he told the priest that he needed a normality. The traditional marriage would adjust him from the past sins. In final, he encountered and recognized Lino, he denounced his homosexuality public and also his friend Italo, left alone himself.
CherryAfter watching the movie, I found two apparent similarities with the previous movies. First is in Persona, both movie have red-tinted sequence. Second, audience can find the pictures with Saint Mary much the same as that in Women of the Night, yet both of them appear ironically. There are also many flashbacks in the film. The most impressive one is when Marcello was thinking how he was bullied by other boys in his childhood and then rescued by a police (Lino) but later had homosexual experience with him. Another example is when Marcello and Giulia are on the train, Giulia (his fiancée) told him that she had already had sexual experience with someone else. I was really confused because I am not sure whether it is the scene that happened in the past or it is now on the train. (I assume the director will use flashback again. But it looks they are still on the train. I think it is on the train but why later the shot is they are having sexual relationship? Because it seems they are on the bed.) There is one thing I cannot figure out. Why there are red-tinted and blue-tinted in the film, what is the function of that or they represent nothing?
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