Bernardo Bertolucci dead

[Monsieur Verdoux]

https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/entertainment-arts-46342644?__twitter_impression=true

'The Conformist' is probably my favourite film ever, so this is a sad day. Loved 'Novecento' too, it's what sprawling epics should be. 'Last Tango' blew my mind when I saw it as a teenager, when I was in my heavy Brando phase. 'The Spider's Strategem' is brilliant and worth seeking out as well

For a while he was the greatest

[Noodle Lizard]

I still have time for Last Tango and The Dreamers, appealed to my more Europhilic sensibilities as a teenager (as well as all the shagging).  I liked him overall, I reckon.

[biggytitbo]

Thank you for the Dreamers Bernardo.

Last Tango was a bit shit though, tbh, plus what the lead actress later said about the filming make the film unwatchable now.

[Absorb the anus burn]

I have a soft spot for The Sheltering Sky.... Epic man. RIP.

[Shit Good Nose]

His services to the butter industry will not be forgotten.

Yeah, Last Tango isn't all that really, however it is, arguably, the finest performance Brando ever gave - subtle, nuanced, low-key and believable without any schtick whatsoever.  I think Bertolucci is chiefly responsible for that performance.

Novocento for me.  Might give it a spin later in tribute.

[biggytitbo]

His services to the butter industry will not be forgotten.

Those Lurpak ads he directed in the 80s are great, imo.

[Monsieur Verdoux]

The great thing about Novecento is that even though it's longer than anything David Lean ever did, it doesn't have that stately, placid feeling that a lot of HISTORICAL EPIC films have where you feel as if you're kind of viewing it through a glass box. Every moment feels intimate, vital, visceral

[Shit Good Nose]

Yeah, it's a bit like Heimat isn't it - a handful of families in one street kinda thing.

Soap opera, but not shit.

[biggytitbo]

Wonderful film, especially that bit where the actress goes skiing with Robert De Niro and Gerard Depardieu.

[Keebleman]

Sorry to spoil the mood, but I thought 1900 was utter crap.  Five fucking hours of it, and yet I felt I had barely been introduced to any of the main characters.

And it's not just me, Michael Palin thought it was crap too (he says so in his diary).

The Dreamers, though, is one of my favorite films of the century so far.

[Shit Good Nose]

Sorry to spoil the mood, but I thought 1900 was utter crap.  Five fucking hours of it, and yet I felt I had barely been introduced to any of the main characters.

And it's not just me, Michael Palin thought it was crap too (he says so in his diary).

The Dreamers, though, is one of my favorite films of the century so far.

Well, it's all subjective and we all have different tastes - I think The Dreamers is terrible.

We'd all be the same if we weren't different.

[Keebleman]

Wonderful film, especially that bit where the actress goes skiing with Robert De Niro and Gerard Depardieu.

That scene gives the lie to De Niro's reputation as method actor, as he is clearly, visibly, indubitably, not as 'in the moment' as his character should be.

[MortSahlFan]

I was just talking about him yesterday in a conversation... mostly about "Last Tango In Paris" -- well maybe a few will see it now.

P.S. -- If you are a fan, don't go on Twitter.. You'll either want to punch half of them in the nose, or spit in the faces of those who only say what they THINK they are SUPPOSED to say..

Bitches.

[Monsieur Verdoux]

I enjoyed The Dreamers, but it's his least substantial film by far.

[greenman]

I enjoyed The Dreamers, but it's his least substantial film by far.

Ironically the sex drama was actually what had some substance to it whilst the riots/new wave stuff came across as quite half baked to me.

Watched the Comformist again a couple of months ago and enjoyed it more than I remember previously, people aren't wrong when they point out the influence on Coppola.

[Monsieur Verdoux]

Ironically the sex drama was actually what had some substance to it whilst the riots/new wave stuff came across as quite half baked to me.

Pretty much exactly my feeling too. Interesting as a transgressive character piece, but fails to do or say anything interesting about Paris in the 60s, and the musings on cinema are kind of empty.

[Z]

I feel like the fact no one has mentioned the Last Emperor is somewhat telling for where its status is at these days.

[Twit 2]

Yeah, Last Tango isn't all that really, however it is, arguably, the finest performance Brando ever gave - subtle, nuanced, low-key and believable without any schtick whatsoever.

Except the shtick of butter...

[mothman]

I feel like the fact no one has mentioned the Last Emperor is somewhat telling for where its status is at these days.

Which is a shame, really. It's a great film, but many of the former "great/important films" of the mid-late 1980s have seemingly faded into insignificance. People used to rave about Broadcast News and Prizzi's Honour; can you even remember them now? Moonstruck is just another "Nicolas Cage acting mental lol" meme source. Fatal Attraction is best known for bequeathing the world the epithet "bunny boiler." The Mosquito Coast... is that other movie River Phoenix and Harrison Ford were both in.

[Monsieur Verdoux]

all of those films are 'just okay' and not 'great'. not even representative of the best of the period. i think you're describing a very natural occurrence, most of the films people were raving about in 2007 haven't held up either

[greenman]

I would say its moreso the kind of Merchant Ivory exotic/historical cinema that was popular in the era thats really lost an audience, probably because if the growth of alternative cinema. I mean in True Romance Tarantino even wrote the "thats a movie" speech for his avatar Clarence railing against it.

[Hey, Punk!]

;_;

[mothman]

all of those films are 'just okay' and not 'great'. not even representative of the best of the period. i think you're describing a very natural occurrence, most of the films people were raving about in 2007 haven't held up either

Yeah, that's my point, that they were the raved-about films du jour. And Last Emperor was included in their number. I liked it - not seen it in many years - but I don't know if it has any more longevity than the others I cited.

[Monsieur Verdoux]

i thought you were making a point about something particular to the specific period you mentioned, but okay. they just weren't very good films, it's no mystery that they haven't endured. The Last Emperor is miles below almost everything else Bertolucci did