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that periodically distances viewers from the narrative and minimizes the likelihood of
empathic emotional attachments forming between viewers and characters. More subtly,
Bertolucci frames some of the film's images with secondary characters often positioned in
front of the main speakers, or in a semi-circle before them; this underlines the characters'
function as an 'internal audience' which mirrors the extra-diegetic spectator's presence. In
this regard, it is significant that Gerard Depardieu/Olmo also seems to address the film
viewers themselves on several occasions, by looking straight into the camera while
completing his speeches. In one case, he attempts to rouse his comrades - who are standing
silently in a semi-circle - exhorting them to stand firm in the face of Fascist oppression.
Then, he turns directly towards the camera to affirm that the Left will live on as long as
people make their presences felt on an individual basis. The concept of personal
responsibility appears to be important to Bertolucci; it emerges in Tlie Conformist, in the
second part of The Last Emperor, in Little Buddha, and influences the social perspective
presented in Stealing Beauty. The stylized quality of such sequences points to a didactic
intent of Brechtian derivation, as the resulting sense of distance aims - to some extent to
divert the viewers' focus of attention from the ongoing story to a reflection on the socio­
political meaning implied by the sequences.
The theatrical importance of a performer's entrance which, as Gay McAuley observes,
constitutes 'a new event within the fiction' is frequently combined with metaphorical or
symbolic uses of diegetic space to create meaning (McAuley, 1999: 100). One example is the
scene where Alfredo advances into the manor courtyard to show himself wearing his dead
father's fur coat to his relatives who are returning
from the funeral, and who stop when they see him (see
image). Besides being a theatrical set piece which is
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