--- title: "The Conformist" year: 1971 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-conformist" fi1m_score: 87 critics_score: 86 critics_reviews: 16 published: "2026-09-16T10:52:23.015296+00:00" updated: "2026-09-16T10:52:35.296207+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # The Conformist (1971) Directed by Bernardo Bertolucci · 1h 48m · MPA R · Drama **Fi1m score: 87** · Critics 86 from 16 reviews *In a sentence:* A man joins the fascists and still looks worried about making the wrong impression > Bernardo Bertolucci makes the wish to fit in frightening, helped by Jean-Louis Trintignant and Vittorio Storaro’s seductive images. We recommend it, despite a tendency to make sexual repression explain too much of its central man’s politics. ## Synopsis In 1930s Italy, Marcello Clerici (Jean-Louis Trintignant) serves the Fascist regime because he wants to be accepted as normal. He negotiates its bureaucracy while trying to keep his sexual unease separate from the respectable life he seeks with Giulia (Stefania Sandrelli). In Paris, Professor Quadri (Enzo Tarascio) and Anna Quadri (Dominique Sanda) enter his affairs. The luxurious rooms and official routines offer Marcello reassuring surroundings, but his dealings with the women expose desires he cannot comfortably acknowledge. His need for approval shapes the choices he makes in both his political work and his private relationships. ## Review *The Conformist* is an absorbing political drama with an explanation of its central man that is sometimes too convenient. Bernardo Bertolucci writes and directs this adaptation of Alberto Moravia’s novel, following Marcello Clerici’s wish to be accepted into respectable society. Fascism suits him because it tells him how to belong. The film takes that small, recognisable desire seriously enough to make it frightening, without asking us to admire the man who acts on it. Jean-Louis Trintignant makes Marcello’s insecurity the most important thing about him. We keep looking for a conviction strong enough to explain his allegiance, and finding a man anxious to avoid being singled out. His need for approval is uncomfortably easy to recognise, and the performance allows no reassurance about where it leads. Marcello’s weakness is unpleasant to spend time with, but the actor gives us enough to watch without making him secretly admirable. Vittorio Storaro’s cinematography makes the attraction of this world difficult to dismiss. His rich colours and carefully arranged frames work with Ferdinando Scarfiotti’s luxurious production design to make fitting in look worth the effort. We were unsettled by how inviting the Parisian rooms looked. Their comfort helps us understand Marcello’s hunger for acceptance, even while his behaviour makes us recoil. Franco Arcalli’s editing is just as important to the effect. The flashbacks interrupt a straightforward account of Marcello’s behaviour, asking us to revise our reading of him as the film moves through time. This takes concentration, and the occasional difficulty is worth it: a tidier sequence would make him too easy to explain. Georges Delerue’s music contributes to the film’s sensual appeal, giving us another reason to enjoy spending time in uncomfortable company. The score’s attractiveness works here because the whole film makes us suspicious of what we find pleasing. Stefania Sandrelli gives Giulia a welcome ease beside all this self-consciousness. Dominique Sanda makes Anna Quadri harder to read, and the uncertainty keeps our attention on her rather than solely on what she means to Marcello. Both performances help a film so preoccupied with one man’s fears. The women can feel overburdened with the job of explaining his sexuality, yet the actors make them interesting enough that we want the film to give them more room. That appetite for explanation is the substantial weakness. Bernardo Bertolucci connects sexual repression and political obedience so insistently that Marcello sometimes seems to have been built to prove a diagnosis. We believe the cowardice more readily than the account of what causes it. The film has already shown how attractive it can be to follow rules and receive approval; it does not need to make private shame explain quite so much. A little less certainty about his psychology would have made him more troubling. At 108 minutes, this is a demanding but rewarding evening, especially for anyone who likes a thriller to give them more to think about than the next danger. Its noir unease comes from having to stay close to a man whose judgement we distrust. There is little relief in his company, even with so much beauty around him. Watch it when there is time to look properly, and expect to argue about Marcello afterwards. *Fi1m score 87, published 16 September 2026.* ## What the critics say The reviews are uniformly positive about The Conformist, with praise clustering around Bertolucci’s direction, Vittorio Storaro’s cinematography and Jean-Louis Trintignant’s performance. Critics repeatedly connect the carefully composed images, colour and luxurious settings to the film’s examination of fascism, sexuality and the desire to fit in. Trintignant earns particular credit for making a weak, compromised protagonist psychologically compelling. Several reviews also admire the way political drama, sensuality and thriller tension work together without simplifying the character’s cowardice. The differences concern the degree of enthusiasm rather than any substantial opposition. The Guardian admires the spectacle and central performance but finds the Freudian psychology simplistic, while Variety suggests some trimming despite praising the film’s power and cast. The Hollywood Reporter acknowledges narrative and thematic flaws but considers the visual style sufficient compensation. These reservations leave a clear consensus, though the more qualified reviews question the psychology and pacing that others find persuasive. ### Reviews we read (16) - **Time Out**, Wally Hammond (5/5): The review calls the film a dazzling, idea-laden thriller that balances politics, philosophy and sex with a serio-comic tone, crediting its striking cinematography and performances while noting its intellectual engagement. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-conformist-2) - **Empire**, David Parkinson (95/100, inferred): The critic describes it as Bertolucci's greatest film, a complex study of a man trapped between convention and rebellion that also reveals much about the director himself. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/conformist-review/) - **Vulture**, Bilge Ebiri (95/100, inferred): The critic hails it as one of the greatest and most visually ravishing films ever made, singling out its innovative nonlinear flashback structure that mirrors the protagonist’s psyche and its blend of sensuous beauty with moral and political complexity in a 4K restoration re-release. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/article/movie-review-bernardo-bertoluccis-the-conformist-returns.html) - **Los Angeles Times**, Betsy Sharkey (90/100, inferred): The critic calls it a surreal masterwork that feels contemporary, praising its tale of political and sexual dark forces in Fascist Italy and the sheer beauty of every frame. Trintignant's performance as Marcello is singled out as sweeping the viewer away. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-jun-10-la-et-betsy-20100610-story.html) - **Slant Magazine**, Violet Lucca (90/100, inferred): The critic celebrates the re-release as one of the best films of the year, praising its timeless exploration of conformity and complicity through stunning visual storytelling—color, framing, and sets—along with Jean-Louis Trintignant’s complex performance and the film’s blend of art-house sensuality and noir tension. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/the-conformist/) - **The Hollywood Reporter**, Doug Pratt (90/100, inferred): The critic calls it one of the great triumphs of stylistic filmmaking, praising Vittorio Storaro’s cinematography, the sensuous construction of the images, and how the style smooths over any narrative or thematic flaws to create an overwhelming cinematic experience. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/conformist-1900-158064/) - **The New York Times**, Vincent Canby (90/100, inferred): The critic calls the film an elegant surprise and superior chronicle that equates the rise and fall of Italian Fascism with the romantic, obsessive life of its conformist protagonist. Bertolucci's rich, poetic, baroque style is praised as an improvement over the source novel. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/1971/03/23/archives/film-the-conformist.html) - **The Times**, Edward Porter (90/100, inferred): Bertolucci’s 1970 masterpiece is rereleased in a smart new print, deserving to be seen for its strikingly composed images and ravishing colours from Vittorio Storaro’s cinematography. The visual artistry enhances the story of an insecure man driven to fascism by a desire to seem normal. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/travel/destinations/europe-travel/italy/the-conformist-the-sunday-times-review-9pfrp3jwkvb) - **RogerEbert.com**, Charlie Schmidlin (85/100, inferred): The critic praises Bertolucci's striking adaptation as a powerful exploration of cowardice, conformity, and the interplay of politics and sexuality in 1930s Italy. Storaro's lush cinematography and the lead performance by Trintignant are singled out for creating emotional and visual depth. [Read](https://www.rogerebert.com/far-flung-correspondents/the-man-who-decided-to-go-along) - **Evening Standard** (80/100, inferred): The critic hails the revival of one of Bertolucci's best films, praising its examination of Italy's fascist past through perverse sexuality and its icy luxurious period recreation via Vittorio Storaro's camerawork. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/all-hail-the-revival-7404381.html) - **The New Yorker**, David Denby (80/100, inferred): The critic describes the film as an unprecedented mixture of political drama and sensuality, a classic study of betrayal and bad faith soaked in nostalgic ambivalence. The luxurious Parisian scenes and performances by Trintignant, Sandrelli, and Sanda are highlighted. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/12/20/when-in-rome-david-denby) - **Sight and Sound**, David Thomson (70/100, inferred): The critic praises Bertolucci's assured direction and the film's exploration of a repressed, unlikeable protagonist drawn to fascism, highlighting its visual style and emotional depth over later works by the director. [Read](http://old.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/feature/49437) - **The Guardian**, Philip French (70/100, inferred): Bertolucci's 1970 adaptation of Moravia's novel is welcomed back in a new print that does justice to its expressive spectacle and art direction. Jean-Louis Trintignant is magnificent as the weak intellectual drawn into fascism, though the psychology is described as 'dollar-book Freud.' [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2008/mar/02/bernardobertolucci.drama) - **Variety**, Variety Staff (70/100, inferred): The review calls Bertolucci's free adaptation a click from start to finish, a powerful film about a coward conforming to Fascist dictates. Strong performances, especially by Trintignant, Sandrelli, and Sanda, are praised, though some trimming is suggested. [Read](https://variety.com/1969/film/reviews/il-conformista-1200422211/) - **Collider**, Ron Evangelista (90/100, inferred): The critic calls Bertolucci's film one of the finest of the 1970s, praising its ironic mix of vibrant mise en scène and deliberate emptiness in its study of a conformist fascist operative. [Read](https://collider.com/the-conformist-movie/) - **Eye for Film**, Ben Sillis (85/100, inferred): The critic praises Bertolucci's bold choice to make every character unlikeable and pathetic in this exploration of fascism, using a sexual drama and love triangle to examine fear and complicity under Mussolini's regime. Vittorio Storaro's 'colour noir' cinematography and the film's focus on voyeurism and the regime's absurd bureaucracy are highlighted as standout elements. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/the-conformist-film-review-by-ben-sillis) ## Details - **Director:** Bernardo Bertolucci - **Director:** Bernardo Bertolucci - **Screenplay:** Bernardo Bertolucci - **Novel:** Alberto Moravia - **Cinematography:** Vittorio Storaro - **Editor:** Franco Arcalli - **Music:** Georges Delerue - **Production design:** Ferdinando Scarfiotti - **Costume design:** Gitt Magrini - **Producer:** Maurizio Lodi-Fè - **Cast:** Jean-Louis Trintignant as Marcello Clerici; Stefania Sandrelli as Giulia; Gastone Moschin as Manganiello; Dominique Sanda as Anna Quadri; Enzo Tarascio as Professor Quadri; Fosco Giachetti as The Colonel; José Quaglio as Italo Montanari; Yvonne Sanson as Giulia's Mother - **Runtime:** 1h 48m - **Certificate (MPA):** R - **Release (the US):** 21 March 1971 - **Genres:** Drama - **Budget:** $750,000 - **Box office:** $233,493 - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04kMeEjVGIk ## Where to watch in the US - Amazon Prime Video: add-on - The Roku Channel: add-on, hd - Apple TV: rent $3.99, hd - Apple TV: buy $8.99, sd *Checked 2026-09-16.* Also available in: AR, AT, BG, CA, CL, CO, CZ, DK, EE, FI, FR, GR, HK, HU, IL, IT, JP, LT, NO, NZ, PA, PH, PL, PT, SE, TH, UA, US, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## Awards - Academy Awards 1972: Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay (nominated) ## If you liked this - *The Servant* (1963): Respectability proves unreliable in another carefully arranged house full of competing desires. - *High and Low* (1963), Fi1m 90: Rooms, clothes and camera placement make class impossible to overlook. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/high-and-low.md) - *Mephisto* (1981): An actor discovers how comfortably professional ambition can accommodate political obedience. - *The Lives of Others* (2006), Fi1m 84: Another state employee finds private lives complicating the business of obedience. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-lives-of-others.md) - *The White Ribbon* (2009), Fi1m 86: A stricter, colder examination of obedience and the cruelty respectable communities permit. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-white-ribbon.md) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/the-conformist