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II conformista/The Conformist: The Foundation of Bertolucci^s Theoretical 'Third Way'
In 1970, as well as The Spider's Stratagem, Bertolucci released // Conformista / The
Conformist which represents his first complete attempt to blend Classic Hollywood
conventions with European auteur cinema. In this sense it represents a turning point in his
conception of film-making, a shift in orientation generated by his forced reassessment of his
artistic perspectives after the failure of Partner, In this respect Bertolucci himself stated:
'Perhaps part of my process of liberation was the acceptance of the fact that I had always
wanted to create a spettacolo [...] with The Conformist I really accepted the role of author of
story films' (Bachmann, 1973: 96). With regard to financing the film, asked if he had a
'guilty conscience' in accepting American money - something that Godard was refusing at
that time - Bertolucci denied it, but admitted his unease at the contradictions that arose from
the need for finance in cinema, a problem that was difficult to resolve. He praised Godard's
viewpoint, but stated that this was not the only valid stance to take; in his view Godard's
choice was due to not wanting to be a leader any more (Goldin, 1972: 66). On Bertolucci's
high regard for Godard, there is a significant anecdote about their meeting after the premiere
of The Conformist in Paris, at a more mundane venue, a 'drugstore in St. Germain' where
Godard had asked Bertolucci to meet him. But Godard - Bertolucci recounts - only stopped
for a second to give him a picture of Mao on which he had written 'II Faut Lutter Contre
L'Egoisme et L'lmperialisme' (Ungari, 1982: 237). While Bertolucci did not subscribe to this
tendency to sanctify Mao and to turn one's support for Maoism into blind faith, (Ungari,
1982:237) the fact that he willingly met with Godard, being interested to hear his opinion of
The Conformist, problematizes the critical writing that has sought to demonstrate that, for
Bertolucci, the film marked the point at which he ceased to consider Godard as his cinematic
mentor, these assertions usually being based on elements such as Bertolucci using Godard's
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