

A weak-willed Italian man becomes a fascist flunky who goes abroad to arrange the assassination of his old teacher, now a political dissident.
Cinematography
Storaro's light doesn't illuminate—it interrogates. Every frame is a thesis.
Direction
Bertolucci at 29, already a control freak genius with a camera.
Production
Art deco fascism so gorgeous it makes you complicit too.

Director
Bernardo Bertolucci
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The legendary 'dance hall' scene with Anna and Giulia was largely improvised after Dominique Sanda simply started dancing. Bertolucci kept rolling.
Bertolucci adapted from Alberto Moravia's novel while processing his own Communist Party disillusionment; the film became a Rosetta Stone for understanding how intellectuals sleepwalk into atrocity.