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The film's depiction of the deviated mother/son relationship centres on inappropriate
intimacy between the characters, and this is expressed by behaviour more appropriate to an
adult relationship than to a parent/child rapport; this is exemplified in the scene depicting Joe
preparing a candlelit dinner for his mother and himself, as if they were lovers. This detail,
however, in the context of the ongoing ambivalence of the Joe/Caterina relationship, suggests
that Bertolucci was drawn to include this episode in the film but without knowing how to
justify and develop it in narrative terms. It is difficult to imagine the theme underlying this
narrative detail - a desire for rapprochement or proximity from one party towards another -
being entirely decontextualized from Bertolucci's own life and career, and again it points to a
personal discourse animating the film's subtext. Returning to the notion of Joe being a cypher
for Bertolucci's mindset and Caterina representing America and its public, parallels could be
drawn between this dinner sequence and various phases of the 1900 distribution saga. Joe
enthusiastically cooks an elaborate French recipe, elegantly sets a table, and dresses himself
for the serving of his culinary masterpiece; ultimately the dish turns out to be inedible for its
intended recipient, Caterina, and Joe shouts 'I fucked it up' in furious frustration. Again, for
viewers whose reception mode is principally intellectual, especially those with knowledge of
the director's career, a pattern can be identified between the elaborate and time consuming
creation of 1900 and Bertolucci's eventual frustration over its failed 'consumption' by
America and its audiences, and his admission of partial responsibility for having mismanaged
the situation. This reading could be extended to one of the film's sequences of intimacy
between the protagonists as Caterina solicits a sexual act from Joe, the youth angrily drawing
away and shouting 'You don't love me'. This could be a metaphorical representation of
Bertolucci's refusal to satisfy the American conditions related to 1900, airing his anger and
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