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close-ups and the couple's nudity to emerge from the enveloping darkness.
On the use of the colour orange Bertolucci recalls that he and Storaro wanted to
recreate the light of the sun just before sunset, 'when it strikes the windows with its warm
orange rays', whereas Bacon's colours as a source of inspiration are also acknowledged by
Bertolucci as he recalls how he and Storaro even went to an exhibition of the painter's work
that was held in Paris (Ungari, 1982: 117). Moreover, the apartment's symbolic meaning is
hinted at by the whiteness of a sheet, thrown over what viewers can easily envisage as old
furniture. Standing out amidst the dim hues, it is a sad, ghostly remnant of the life that existed
in the apartment before Paul and Jeanne's arrival, thus functioning as a reminder of life's
transience and the precariousness of the human condition. To portray Jeanne's despair at
finding the apartment empty and Paul gone, Bertolucci films her from the back as, falling to
her knees, she pulls down the sheet, finally uncovering the furniture.
The affective charge of the film's sexuality
The film's emotional structure is conditioned by the sexual arousal generated by the depiction
of Paul and Jeanne's intimacy. The natural quality of the depiction is partly attributable to
Bertolucci's explanation that, for him, sexuality is determined 'not so much by your sexual
life, but by your sexual formation as a child' (Quinn, 1977: 106). Bertolucci spent his
childhood in the countryside where 'the discovery of one's sexuality happens early',
(Maraini, 1973:87) probably because children witness the sexual life of animals (Ungari
1982: 14). This detail might account for the director's decision to have the protagonists
imitate animal noises at certain points. As regards the film's visually innovative and intense
sensuality, shot realistically through close-ups, Paul arguably represents the director's alter
ego, impacting upon Jeanne and the film's viewers in a similar way. Like her, viewers are
initially taken by surprise, then constantly kept in suspense, since they soon become aware
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