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they are fuelling, he threatens an implacable revenge that begins later with the violent murder
of young Fabrizio Pioppi. The dark, amoral side of society is thus metaphorically represented
by the way Giovanni and Attila utter their words.
The content of the monologues is designed to elicit an intellectual engagement from
viewers that emerges through the affective charge generated by the sinister delivery of the
lines. The substance of Attila's monologue enables - and encourages - viewers to elaborate a
truncated hierarchy of preference within which the Fascist labourers embodied by Attila
somehow seem more coherent than their unscrupulous commanders. Such distinctions had
already emerged in The Conformist through Manganiello's disgust in response to Marcello
Clerici's cowardice. In 1900, Bertolucci reiterates this differentiated perspective as, during
his death scene, Attila stands upright and proclaims his Fascist pride in a declamatory style,
while Alfredo never pays for supporting a regime whose nature he was fully aware of. In this
sense, Alfredo's opportunism is a variation of that of Marcello Clerici, reflecting a
divergence between political awareness and personal conduct. Interestingly, Bertolucci
defines Attila and Regina as victims because they are 'completely instrumentalized' by the
ruling class who make them the interface for 'all the aggression it lacks the strength, the guts,
to express directly itself (Georgakas-Rubenstein, 1985:145).
Shaping the mood of 1900: charting the seasons; sex and violence as emotion markers
The film's narration presents different visuals which are instrumental in generating a shifting
emotional climate. The stunning colour scheme and warm lighting of the sequence related to
the protagonists' childhood cast a lyrical aura on the narrative, and appear designed to create
a mood of enchanted fascination. By contrast the narrative related to the class struggle during
the rise and rule of Fascism is emphasized by the use of dark colours and cold lighting, which
contribute to create a mood of oppression and unease. Lyricism is deployed again in the last
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