The Conformist 1970

In the age of fascist Italy, an ambitious young member of the secret police aims to leverage his lapsed relationship with a political dissident to curry favor and climb the ladder. Accompanied by his new bride, he travels abroad, does the recon, re-establishes contact and struggles to make the kind of decisive move his superiors are looking for. Participating in the assassination of an old acquaintance must have seemed so romantic and straightforward when it was just an abstract concept. Actually pulling the trigger once you've been out for drinks together, after your wives have bonded over Parisian fashion, that's another matter entirely.

Speaking in a purely technical sense, The Conformist is a marvel. Gorgeously framed and lit, with trend-setting photography and a crisp eye for detail, it's stylish, radiant cinema that emphasizes and enhances the chosen mood of each important scene. I found the script to be less inspired. Particularly so during the drawn-out second act, where our spy endlessly hems and haws about making a decision. Any decision, that is, not just the big, fat one at the center of all the swirling intrigue. For most of his life, he's survived in a detached state, merely going with the flow (nay, conforming) to avoid rocking the boat; this time such deferrals do him no good, yet he persists. History is littered with such men, following orders or standing mute while atrocities are carried out in their name, and while that's a valid point, it's tirelessly beaten and bandied about. The film isn't terribly subtle about any of its messages, operating with a proud moral superiority that I found stiff and redundant. It's so concerned with being IMPORTANT that it can often feel like a lecture.

Good as a thought-stirrer, and outstanding as a visual specimen, but overwrought and wearying as a total package.