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placed by Marcus on Bertolucci's shift away from the sense of 'inexorable fate' in Moravia's original novel in favour of a greater emphasis on 'Marcello's sovereign free will' and the moral consequences of this, is supported in my own study (Marcus, 1986: 296). Nevertheless, having outlined this assumption, there is a contradiction when Marcus indicates that where Marcello Clerici is concerned, the film's cinematic devices 'all suggest an abnormal, chaotic mental state' (Marcus, 1986: 296). While the notion of abnormality can be defended, that of mental chaos is less tenable; my analysis will identify a cold determination in Clerici ? s pursuit of conformism and a lucid awareness of Fascism's threatening and repressive nature. Yosefa Loshitzky, in The Radical Faces of Godard and Bertolucci (1995), analyses in parallel the career of the two directors. Her analysis of Bertolucci's films generally mirrors other scholarly analysis, in terms of reaffirming Godard's influence on Bertolucci, the implication of an Oedipus complex in their relationship, and Bertolucci's departure from Godard's avant-garde view on cinema. On the latter point, and without any intention of mounting a defence or criticism of the decision that led to this different strand of film- making, I believe that more consideration should be given to the question of cinema and elitism that troubled Bertolucci and other directors in the early 1970s, film-makers such as Elio Petri, as both Bertolucci and Petri added their own reflections to the debate. In 1973, while discussing politically committed films, Bertolucci asserted: 'The great problem of the political film is very difficult. I see a great contradiction in my work when I do political films like Before the Revolution and Partner, because political films must be popular films, and Partner, for example, was anything but popular' (Georgakas, Rubenstein, 1984: 38). hi commenting on Solanas's regret at having been unable to show his film Hour of the Furnaces (1973) to the people he would have liked to, Bertolucci affirmed that a revolutionary film 'never goes into a revolutionary space' but 'into festivals. So you do revolutionary films for the cinephiles' (Georgakas, Rubenstein, 1984: 38-39). This was a preoccupation shared by 22
Petri, who - in 1972 - talking about Godard's work, asserted: 'I still like his work, although I think that his efforts are useless. I don't believe one can make a revolution with cinema. To speak to an elite of intellectuals is like speaking to nobody' (Georgakas, Rubenstein, 1984: 60). Petri also adds that within the strategy of initiating a dialectical process 'involving the great masses', 'Godard's films are important, especially when they are clear. Unfortunately, when you appeal to an elite, you fall into the trap of intellectualism' (Georgakas, Rubenstein, 1984: 60). Significantly, there is a reference in Loshitzky's book to Godard confronting the issue himself, Loshitzky affirming: 'Reflecting on this rather sharp transition from voluntary seclusion to the big capitalist market he [Godard] said: 'My Grenoble experience has been fascinating. But I realize now that it was too abstract, lacking in contact and means. I cut myself off from certain subjects and from a certain public. Whereas we must base our aims on the public's desire and prolong them 7 (Loshitzky, 1995: 83). At this point in the introductory sections to my own study I have referred to this issue because of its importance not just to Bertolucci's career but also to film-making nowadays. With regard to the analysis Loshitzky makes of individual films, several elements will be debated in the relevant chapters in this volume. These include her use of Marcuse's reading of Freud in his Eros and Civilization which will be examined in my discussion of Last Tango in Paris in the context of the implied social perspectives in the way the Paul/Jeanne relationship is narrated. This will lead to a different contextualization both of the representation of sexuality in the film and of the function of the apartment in the film's mise- en-scene. As regards Loshitzky's interpretation that in Bertolucci's film-making, at a certain point, 'the East became, in opposition to West, a Utopia' (Loshitsky, 1995: 89) this study will contend that Bertolucci did not see the East as a Utopia, but as a means of warning Western contemporary society about the degradation of human relationships. Finally, although this project does not pursue a feminist critique of Bertolucci's work, I will contrast Loshitzky's 23
- Page 1 and 2: Emotion and Cognition in the Films
- Page 3 and 4: Contents Acknowledgements 1 Abstrac
- Page 5 and 6: Acknowledgements I am very grateful
- Page 7 and 8: INTRODUCTION Over the past five dec
- Page 9 and 10: moods punctuated by emotional pheno
- Page 11 and 12: comprehensible why a nation that de
- Page 13 and 14: foreground a reception process in w
- Page 15 and 16: LITERATURE REVIEW While this study
- Page 17 and 18: film for 'jealous cinephiles or, mo
- Page 19 and 20: together' (Ungari, 1982: 51). This
- Page 21 and 22: Canby implicitly agrees with Cineas
- Page 23 and 24: it is Last Tango in Paris, and in t
- Page 25: e attributed to Paul's abolition of
- Page 29 and 30: twofold aim of offering viewers sop
- Page 31 and 32: Maraini, D. (1973) 'Who were you?',
- Page 33 and 34: In discussing different narrative t
- Page 35 and 36: outcomes. The viewer and character
- Page 37 and 38: information to which the character
- Page 39 and 40: emotional state that the individual
- Page 41 and 42: opera houses in Before the Revoluti
- Page 43 and 44: manipulation, Bordwell analyses the
- Page 45 and 46: narrative schema clarifies how we o
- Page 47 and 48: to the point of drawing the spectat
- Page 49 and 50: for granted, in a 'slightly hazardo
- Page 51 and 52: passive emotionalism' (Sterritt, 19
- Page 53 and 54: Godard's approach from Bertolucci's
- Page 55 and 56: characters being stimulated into ta
- Page 57 and 58: apolitical art' in La Chinoise (p.
- Page 59 and 60: SECTION 1; Pessimism and Melancholi
- Page 61 and 62: La commare secca/The Grim Reaper: A
- Page 63 and 64: the film. Several of the suspects a
- Page 65 and 66: to reduce realism in favour of an a
- Page 67 and 68: giant publicity poster for the aper
- Page 69 and 70: mark out the sequence as significan
- Page 71 and 72: emphasizes his youth and simple nat
- Page 73 and 74: The camera movement and the frame c
- Page 75 and 76: Smith, G. M. (1999) 'Local Emotions
Petri, who - in 1972 - talking about Godard's work, asserted: 'I still like his work, although I<br />
think that his efforts are useless. I don't believe one can make a revolution with cinema. To<br />
speak to an elite <strong>of</strong> intellectuals is like speaking to nobody' (Georgakas, Rubenstein, 1984:<br />
60). Petri also adds that within the strategy <strong>of</strong> initiating a dialectical process 'involving the<br />
great masses', 'Godard's films are important, especially when they are clear. Unfortunately,<br />
when you appeal to an elite, you fall into the trap <strong>of</strong> intellectualism' (Georgakas, Rubenstein,<br />
1984: 60). Significantly, there is a reference in Loshitzky's book to Godard confronting the<br />
issue himself, Loshitzky affirming: 'Reflecting on this rather sharp transition from voluntary<br />
seclusion to the big capitalist market he [Godard] said: 'My Grenoble experience has been<br />
fascinating. But I realize now that it was too abstract, lacking in contact and means. I cut<br />
myself <strong>of</strong>f from certain subjects and from a certain public. Whereas we must base our aims<br />
on the public's desire and prolong them 7 (Loshitzky, 1995: 83). At this point in the<br />
introductory sections to my own study I have referred to this issue because <strong>of</strong> its importance<br />
not just to Bertolucci's career but also to film-making nowadays.<br />
With regard to the analysis Loshitzky makes <strong>of</strong> individual films, several elements will<br />
be debated in the relevant chapters in this volume. These include her use <strong>of</strong> Marcuse's<br />
reading <strong>of</strong> Freud in his Eros and Civilization which will be examined in my discussion <strong>of</strong><br />
Last Tango in Paris in the context <strong>of</strong> the implied social perspectives in the way the<br />
Paul/Jeanne relationship is narrated. This will lead to a different contextualization both <strong>of</strong> the<br />
representation <strong>of</strong> sexuality in the film and <strong>of</strong> the function <strong>of</strong> the apartment in the film's mise-<br />
en-scene. As regards Loshitzky's interpretation that in Bertolucci's film-making, at a certain<br />
point, 'the East became, in opposition to West, a Utopia' (Loshitsky, 1995: 89) this study will<br />
contend that Bertolucci did not see the East as a Utopia, but as a means <strong>of</strong> warning Western<br />
contemporary society about the degradation <strong>of</strong> human relationships. Finally, although this<br />
project does not pursue a feminist critique <strong>of</strong> Bertolucci's work, I will contrast Loshitzky's<br />
23
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