Set during the reign of Italian Fascism, through a time shifting flashback structure we learn how a spineless middle class citizen joined the secret police and attempted to seduce his radical teacher's wife while struggling with his own sexuality before conscripting to have his one time mentor assassinated. From a novel by Alberto Moravia, Bernardo Bertolucci's The Conformist is a dense and challenging film, spotlighted by great photography, an incredible ending, and a complex lead performance from Jean-Louis Trintignant.
