Fear and Loathing in Italy
Alberto Moravia's "The Conformist" is set during the Fascist-era Italy, where the author illustrates the ill effects of forcing oneself to behave according to socially acceptable standards. But it's not hard to imagine the premise anywhere, at any time. Moravia's psychological approach reveals a lot about ourselves.
Marcello is a case in study. His affluent background prevents him from socializing with other people. He spends a lot of time at home, which is not good for him. No love between his parents, and his father shows signs of losing his sanity after one heated argument. The young boy is a victim of bullying in school. Lino, the family chauffeur, saved him on one occasion, but Marcello had no idea about his past. (Lino was a clergy. He was defrocked for reasons that were too delicate to be made public.)
Benito Mussolini is about to be the most powerful man in Italy. It's a dangerous time, yet Marcello wants to conform. He yearns for a family and a respectable job, like everyone else.
Blurred line
Marcello is too eager to embrace “normalcy”, losing his sense of right and wrong along the way. He didn't hesitate in turning against his friends, whom the Fascist police are suspicious.
Some are quick to point out that Marcello is Moravia himself.
"You must keep in mind that I was ill in infancy, and because of it I was alone, completely alone, until I was 18. I never went to school. I never had other children to play with. Solitude entered my soul so deeply that even today I feel a profound detachment from others,'' Moravia wrote in his memoir.
The circumstances might be very different if Moravia grew up decades after the war. It would be peaceful, but the author illustrated how circumstances influenced a person's destiny. Marcello would go with the flow, which many people did during the war. They wanted to live. It was gray area from there. Marcello struggled, as his past caught up with him. Readers would sense his self-loathing attitude.
Art and decor during the Fascist era
Bernardo Bertolucci adapted Moravia's novel to the big screen. The production design revealed what the Fascists wanted. (The middle class favor the drawing room, while the elite prefer something more spacious. So they choose huge halls.) Critics saw something else. It was an Expressionist masterpiece.
The movie was a hit. It was released during the time when American Cinema was undergoing a transition. It was a reflection of an anxious period. (Cold War, conflict in Vietnam, civil rights.) If a number of American filmmakers became more open in its depiction of sex and violence, then their peers in Europe went a step further. (Liliana Cavani's “The Night Porter” featured elements of Nazisploitation. Fans of art films find it controversial.)
"The Conformist" recevied a Golden Globe nomination for Best Foreign Language Film and an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. It was relatively few (compared to the other acclaimed Italian films during that era), but time was a fair judge.
