Bernardo Bertolucci (1940 - )
Related: Italian cinema - director
Films: Last Tango in Paris (1972) - Il Conformista/The Conformist (1970) - The Dreamers (2003)
Many critics consider sex and politics the defining characteristics of Bertolucci's films. Last Tango examines sex in an extremely carnal and disturbed way. It is seen as an erotic film which opened the door to eroticism in general-release films. The Conformist is based political themes, more specifically, fascism, and the relationship between personal comfort and ideals. The film deals with Fascist Italy and can be seen as both artistic and intellectual. This film is thought to demonstrate his excellence as a director. While he has directed, written, or been otherwise involved in dozens of movies over five decades, and his range is extremely broad, these themes nonetheless figure prominently throughout his work, especially in his most noted and most recent releases. [Aug 2006]
Biography
Bernardo Bertolucci (born March 16, 1940, Parma, Italy) is a writer and film director.
Bertolucci was the first son of his father who was a reputed art historian and poet. Bertolucci started writing at the age of 15 and soon after received several prestigious literary prizes including the Premio Viareggio for his first book. His father's background helped his career: the elder Bertolucci had helped the Italian filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini publish his first novel, and Pasolini reciprocated by hiring Bernardo as first assistant in Rome on Accattone (1961). But Bertolucci's potential had already been noticed by others, such as Sergio Leone, who asked him to write the storyline for Once Upon a Time in the West. (Leone later rejected it as too cerebral for an American audience.) --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernardo_Bertolucci [Dec 2004]
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