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Section Two; The Sensitizing of the Viewer; Cognitive and Intellectual Reflection
Partner (1968); Ultimo Tango a Parigi/Last Tango in Paris (1972); / sognatori/The
Dreamers (2003).
These films can be considered as paradigmatic of the artistic course taken by Bertolucci
during his career. They articulate his intention to question the socio-cultural reality of the
societies depicted in the films and to experiment with cinematic form. In Partner, reflections
on the nature of the existence of the individual and on societal conditions are elicited through
a political discourse drawing on the work of Artaud, Brecht, and Godard, and which
primarily addresses politically committed viewers and cinephiles. In Last Tango in Paris an
intimate love triangle is used to question the repressive role that social constraints played in
the development of authentic interpersonal relationships, the concept being expressed through
contrasting forms of artistic representation. These elicit two types of viewer engagement;
occasional sensual abandonment to the cinematic illusion but also an intellectual awareness
of the director's use of different cinematic forms. This approach indicates Bertoluccfs
willingness to open up his work to a broader audience - through aesthetic refinement and a
greater emphasis on affective engagement - while preserving an authorial aura through
complex narrations whose intellectual resonances require reflection, hi Tire Dreamers the
evocation of a period of collective aspiration for a better world, intertwined with the notion of
cinema's pedagogical role, indicates a directorial desire to shake the political and cultural
apathy that seemingly envelops the new generations. The twofold discourse is expressed
when the narrative is juxtaposed with moments when the cinematic medium is rendered overt
through the insertion of archive clips. This strategy suggests that Bertolucci aimed to address
both mainstream audiences and cinemagoers with expertise, thereby replicating the approach
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