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178-180). Yet the way the events are depicted relies on a subjective evocation of history,
rather than on an objective representation, both films featuring narrations constructed
according to the codes of nostalgia films, which are deployed in The Conformist through the
glossy, evocative quality of the images in segments of the film, and in 1900 through
references to paintings of the time. In addition, the peculiar construction of the scenes of
violence creates a dreamlike effect that blurs their reality status. This stylistic choice endows
the films with an intense quality, due to the vivid sensations that they elicit. Additionally, the
films present emotion structures based on general moods that envelop viewers from
beginning to end, being achieved mainly through colour schemes and lighting. In this respect,
Bertolucci's comments about the construction of 1900 being linked to a four season colour
scheme explain the stylistic choices that shaped it. In general, however, the emotions
engendered by the films tend to be predicated on the depiction of landscapes or situations,
and rarely on identification with the characters, towards whom the viewer's lack of allegiance
is significant when compared with the prolonged alignment that viewers often have with the
films' key figures. The films restrict the viewer's cognitive activity of elaborating
hypotheses; The Conformist, presents a retarded and distributed narrative - according to the
film's reconfiguration of American and French noir conventions. A predominance of
paratelic qualities characterizes 1900, given that the viewer's supposed pre-existing
knowledge of the film's historical subject matter makes the narrative a process of displaying
events rather than unfolding them in a process of disclosure.
References
Kolker, R. P. (1985) Bernardo Bertolucci, London: BFI Publishing.
Mirabella, JC. and Pitiot, P. (1991) Intervista a Bernardo Bertolucci, Rome: Gremese
Editore.
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