Does anybody have a comment on Bernardo Bertolucci or any of his films? I don’t think I have a steady opinion of him. I’m planning on rewatching his 1970 movie “The Conformist” because Annette Insdorf, in her commentary on “Red” (which is better even than I remembered, btw), brings it up several times. Unrelated to this Kieslowski project, I just watched “The Dreamers” which is certainly good but I haven’t decided if it is great since it obviously is and obviously isn’t. Did I say unsteady?
Last winter I watched “1900” which was rather un-epic for a movie of such scale and duration. My memory of “Stealing Beauty” isn’t very sharp except I remember it was gorgeously shot. I liked “The Sheltering Sky” better than I did Bowles’s book—there’s a good book and movie comparison for you Kc. And I think I fell asleep a third of the way into “Last Tango in Paris” while trying to watch it on cable very late at night.
Anyway, anybody see any of these or other Bertolucci movies?
7 comments:
I really like "Last Tango in Paris," mainly for Marlon Brando, but I haven't seen it in a long time. It's very haunting, and you definitely have to be in a certain frame of mind — don't ask me to elaborate on that — to watch and appreciate it. I think a lot of people saw that in the theater because it had an "X" rating — what a thrill in the 1970s! — and were disappointed because they wanted an exciting sex romp and it was extremely dark and meditative.
Other Bertolucci movies I've seen: "Little Buddha" (liked); "The Sheltering Sky" (liked OK, but would need to see again — I think Paul Bowles' wife was the real talent in that marriage, though); "The Last Emperor" (liked a lot). I've seen only the mainstream stuff, I'm afraid.
Yes. I wouldn’t write off “Last Tango”. It just started too slowly to overcome my growing sleepiness. Maybe I should just go ahead and do a little “Bertolucci project” and watch it and the others I’ve missed. I have this vague suspicion that I’ve seen “Little Buddha”, but I don’t really know. If I have, then it must not have made an impression on me. And it would have been before I had any sense of Bertolucci as a filmmaker. Perhaps that one and “The Last Emperor” have less of a distinctive imprint from their director as a consequence of being made under commercial directives?
DW, I saw "The Conformist" and rated it a 9. It was beautiful, haunting, complex. The storyline never went where I expected.
The style's also cold and elegant ... not unlike a Kubrick film.
Dominique Sanda is haunting in this film, too. I meant to watch "Garden of the Fitz-Continis" afterward but admit I have not.
Unrelated save for general pre/WWII-persecution, this reminds me of "Monsieur Klein," which I also recommend. A French art dealer is indifferent to the plight of the Jews until the Nazis confuse him with a man with the same name, and it's a race for him to prove his genealogy. Creepy and suspenseful. Not as good as Bertolucci, but a good story!
DW, I tried "Last Tango," but I think I gave up because it was late. I suppose because of content the cable channels can only air it late.
Cl, I’m looking forward to seeing “The Conformist” again. According to Annette Insdorf—I highly recommend her commentary on the “Trois Couleurs” films—Kieslowski’s cinematographer, Piotr Sobocinski, was much influenced by “The Conformist”. In the trilogy, and particularly “Red”, some of the camera work reminds me of my man, Christopher Doyle. I don’t remember “The Conformist” having that sort of look: warm, almost dreamy, but not detached. “Red”, after all, is all about making connections. Your comparison to Kubrick sounds more like what I remember. I’ll keep him in mind when I watch “The Conformist”.
Oh, Vittorio De Sica. Other than “The Bicycle Thief”, I’ve not seen any of his movies. Since I’ve been watching Antonioni lately, maybe I should add more of the neo-realists too.
The other spin off from watching “Trois Couleurs” is I want to see “Heaven” written by Kieslowski and his collaborator Piesiewicz shortly before Kieslowski died. Interestingly, it is directed by Tom Tykwer who did “Run, Lola, Run”.
I should rewatch the trilogy. "Red" seemed particularly enigmatic, and I don't remember much of it. (I will watch for the cinematic similarity to "Conformist.") I know there were recurring characters throughout the three films, and while not central (if I recall correctly) to the storylines, I'd like to watch all three in a short enough period of time to connect the dots.
Did anyone watch "Dekalog"? I think Kieslowski had the same interconnectedness in that series. It was all based on the same apartment building. I only watched one ep, though -- the one on adultery. I should watch those as well. A great director.
Two of the series were expanded into stand alone films, and I’ve watched those. I’m planning on watching the whole “Dekalog” in short order.
Yes, I’d encourage watching the “Trois Couleurs” over no more than just a few weeks. The overlap on the characters is very minimal, but I think that the three films benefit from each other in that each has a structuring theme and, of course, a dominate color. So there is much to compare among them. I think that if I had only seen “White” as a stand alone film, I would have found it to be fairly weak. But it makes a worthwhile contribution to the whole. “Blue” is simply breathtaking and its stunning music provides a rich foundation that the following two draw on. “Red” was the one I remembered least clearly. It is stronger than I remember, but perhaps he goes a little overboard on plastering red everywhere. Certainly he wants to emphasize connection, but if everything is connected, it obscures a bit which connections are truly important. One very good reason to watch all three is the music. Kieslowski was so lucky to have such a long term working relationship with a composer as good as Zbigniew Preisner.
Seeing Irene Jacob in “Red” has reminded me to rewatch “The Double Life of Veronique”. And this time I’ll pay particular attention to Preisner’s music.
Thanks for the recommendation. I do think I'll rewatch them -- I haven't seen much worth watching lately.
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