Bertolucci. Bertolucci is a style-plus director with a top 100 film- I don’t have many of those left at this point. The Conformist is a brilliant visual high-wire act of a masterpiece—directed with flair and gravitas. Although he’s got 9 archiveable films you can capture all you really need from Bertolucci with 4 films which certainly hurts his cause. I think it also hurts his cause that his most famous film (though not his best)- Last Tango in Paris– is way better known for Brando’s performance and the explicit content than Bertolucci’s direction (which is too bad because Bertolucci directs the hell out of it, too).
Best film: The Conformist. Politics, architecture and interior design (mise-en-scene all-timer here) and clearly a massive masterpiece. Trintignant gives his best performance and film noir and European art house cinema get a rare blending here.
total archiveable films: 9
top 100 films: 1 (The Conformist)
top 500 films: 3 (The Conformist, 1900, The Last Tango in Paris)
top 100 films of the decade: 4(The Conformist, 1900, The Last Tango in Paris)
most overrated: This is really boring but I think the 4 films of his (same top 4 below in the top 10) rated in the TSPDT top 1000 are very accurate.
most underrated: Last Emperor may be slight underrated at #813 on TSPDT but I’m not sure I’m probably pretty close.
gem I want to spotlight: 1900. RT beats it up but I love it. It’s gorgeous to look at, sprawling, kind of filthy in some ways. It reminds me of Once Upon a Time in America actually (which also stars De Niro and a mostly American cast with an Italian master in a really long film).
stylistic innovations/traits: Bertoluccci’s work is both provocative and vibrant. From Last Tango to Eva Green in The Dreamers Bertolucci is known for his controversial work. He was influenced by Pasolini (who he worked under) and Visctoni (The Leopard in particular). His work with Venetian blinds, shadow, architectural space, and epic filmmaking (pure photography) are matched by very few auteurs. His weaker filmography after his top 4 films doesn’t deter his poetic talent for large canvasses.
top 10
- The Conformist
- 1900
- The Last Tango in Paris
- The Last Emperor
- Before the Revolution
- The Sheltering Sky
- Spider’s Stratagem
- The Dreamers
- The Grim Reaper
By year and grades
| 1962- The Grim Reaper | R |
| 1964- Before the Revolution | R |
| 1970- Spider’s Stratagem | R |
| 1970- The Conformist | MP |
| 1972- The Last Tango in Paris | MS |
| 1976- 1900 | MS |
| 1987- The Last Emperor | |
| 1990- The Sheltering Sky | R |
| 2003- The Dreamers | R |
*MP is Masterpiece- top 1-3 quality of the year film
MS is Must-see- top 5-6 quality of the year film
HR is Highly Recommend- top 10 quality of the year film
R is Recommend- outside the top 10 of the year quality film but still in the archives
Quite a few of his movies are coming-of-age tales. La Luna, Stealing Beauty, The Dreamers, Me and You. And about youth or adolescents. There is some journal writing in both Stealing Beauty and The Dreamers.
Bertolucci has a canted angle scene in a lot of his films. I especially like the use of it in Stealing Beauty.
Vittorio Storaro ranked:
1. Apocalypse Now (1979)
2. The Conformist (1970)
3. One from the Heart (1981)
4. Dick Tracy (1990)
5. The Last Emperor (1987)
6. Novecento (1976)
7. Last Tango in Paris (1972)
8. The Sheltering Sky (1990)
9. The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970)
10. Wonder Wheel (2017)
11. Coup de Chance (2023)
12. The Spider’s Stratagem (1970)
13. La Luna (1979)
14. Little Buddha (1993)
One of the greats!
Is this based of film quality or the cinematography? Also you should see Reds
@Harry- His Cinematography is great in everything. But I do believe The Bird with the Crystal Plumage is the odd one out here. And perhaps The Spider’s Stratagem should be lower than the last two as well in terms of photography. But it has its moments in the last section. The last two are very flawed as films though. Especially La Luna.
Bernardo Bertolucci ranked:
1. The Conformist (1970) – MP
2. The Last Emperor (1987) – MS
3. Novecento (1976) – MS
4. Last Tango in Paris (1972) – MS
5. The Sheltering Sky (1990) – HR/MS
6. The Dreamers (2003) – HR
7. The Spider’s Stratagem (1970) – R/HR
8. Stealing Beauty (1996) – R
9. Me and You (2012) – R
10. La Luna (1979) – R
11. Little Buddha (1993) – R
12. Tragedy of a Ridiculous Man (1981) – R
13. Besieged (1998) – fringe R