Il conformista

In 1951, Italian author Alberto Moravia published his novel Il conformista, in which he explores the psyche of a man whose deepest desire is to be “normal”, a man who wants nothing more than to conform to the prevailing norms of the time. Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci, who would later make Last Tango in Paris, 1900 and The Last Emperor, among others, adapted the novel for the screen, with Jean-Louis Trintignant and Stefania Sandrelli in the leading roles.

Italy, 1930s: Marcello Clerici (Trintignant) has joined Mussolini's fascists and is now part of the fascist secret police. He is assigned to liquidate a political opponent who has fled to Paris: Luca Quadri, a professor who once taught Clerici. Together with his wife Giulia (Sandrelli), who thinks it is a honeymoon, he leaves for Paris. While leaving Giulia behind at the hotel, Clerici visits Quadri. There he also meets Quadri's wife Anna, with whom he falls in love. This makes his assignment even more complicated.