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attached to the filmic narrative in an overdetermined fashion to elicit an intellectual
consideration of the implications of Alfredo's gesture, the mise-en-scene uses diegetic space
to establish a principle of confrontation. Consequently Alfredo's entrance introduces a new
narrative event, that of his assumption of power, and it also emblemizes the sense of
continuity with his father's domineering role in the relationships that he is going to establish,
despite his earlier repugnance to it. Another example of Bertolucci's metaphorical use of
space can be seen in the sequence in which the young Fabrizio Pioppi enters a cottage where
Attila and Regina are having an intimate encounter. The boy is disoriented and stands
immobile hoping not to be seen. But Attila, perceiving a presence, drags him in. The use of
space symbolizes the danger of being drawn in too close to the true face of Fascism and its
brutality; the boy's fateful entrance causes Attila's warped consciousness to plumb new
depths, and the 'new event", in theatrical terms, is a horrific escalation of violence which sets
the tone for the rest of the film. The staged presentation guides viewers beyond cognitive
anticipations of the subsequent plot developments, inviting them to perceive the three
characters as embodiments of social forces (the impressionable citizen, the violent, ambitious
Fascist and sections of the landowning class) that interacted in that historical period.
Affective, cognitive and intellectual implications of the theatrical performances
The significance that can be derived from Bertolucci's stylized closed camera framings in
terms of conveying political reflections also extends to the actors' delivery of their lines. The
artifice in the performances of Dominique Sanda (Ada) and Donald Sutherland (Attila) is
light years away from Brando's intense method acting in Last Tango in Paris, and its
emphatic nature appears designed to distance viewers emotionally from the screen events.
Regarding the character of Ada, Alfredo's wife, Sanda's theatricality echoes the style of an
early 20th century Italian actress, Eleonora Duse, and it connotes the kind of bourgeois
individual who was educated (Ada is well aware of the crude ignorance of Fascism and its
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