“The Conformist” Excessive stylistic beauty that highlights The Truth of humanity *Note! Contains spoilers.

A spiritual journey through consciousness (light) and unconsciousness (shadow)

Like a Caravaggio painting, The Conformist is colored with intense light and shadow. This is because this work is a story of the main character Marcello's spiritual journey through his conscious (light) and unconscious (shadow).

As a boy, Marcello realizes that he is gay after receiving sexual advances from his driver, Lino. Moreover, by killing Reno (though it was actually an attempt), that fact is sealed deep in his heart. The “shadow” is a symbol of the repressed subconscious mind. He believes himself to be an abnormal person and is therefore more determined than anyone else to be normal. The confession scene in the confession room is impressive.

"Normal... I want to somehow create some normalcy for myself. (...) I regret my sins. I want to receive forgiveness from society."

Marry a normal wife and live a normal life. That's what Marcello wants. On the eve of World War II, Italy was in the era of the Fascist Party led by Mussolini. In other words, to be normal in this country and in this era was to surrender to fascism. The original title ``Il conformista'' refers to a conformist, who tries to act as ``normal'' by trying to conform to the masses regardless of ideology.

How did Storaro use his camera to capture the protagonist's oscillation between consciousness and unconsciousness? For example, the scene in which Marcello visits Giulia (Stefania Sandrelli) at her home. The sunlight spilling through the blinds creates distinct black and white stripes. Although he tries to have a normal life by marrying Julia, he is lying to himself as a homosexual. It is truly a mixture of consciousness (light) and unconsciousness (shadow). The fact that the pattern of the costume Julia is wearing is a monochrome stripe is also a disgusting calculation.

Fascism as a political metaphor