From start to finish [The Conformist] has been immaculately conceived and constructed. Bertolucci's keen eye for architecture here reaches its most perfect synthesis yet, and each shot is constructed as though traced from a drawing-board. He echoes the Thirties designs of Art Deco, those geometrical shapes and angles, by juxtaposing straight lines, parallels, verticals, diagonals, in vivid patterns, parodied by the camera's oblique angle. He creates his atmosphere of anonymity and conformity with a metaphoric use of colour—greys, browns, cool blues and stark white backgrounds. And he succeeds in conveying that heady decadence of pre-war Europe with a meticulous attention to detail, and even in the very rhythm of the film, which captures the staccato-like movement of a Thirties tango, as performed in a highly stylised sequence in a dance-hall, stunningly shot from above, catching the dizzy, infectious atmosphere….

The significance of The Conformist lies not only...