Bertolucci, Bernardo

Bertolucci, Bernardo
(1940– )
   The son of a literary critic and poet, Bertolucci’s own first book of poems won the prestigious Viareggio prize in 1962. In the same year, he directed his first feature film. Two years later, his first critically acclaimed movie, Prima della rivoluzione (Before the Revolution, 1964), which tells the story of a young aristocrat who flirts with revolutionary politics before settling down into a conventional marriage, won the Prix Max Ophuls at Cannes.
   In 1968, Bertolucci joined the Partito Comunista Italiano/Italian Communist Party (PCI), which was the prelude to an extraordinary burst of creativity at the beginning of the 1970s. La strategia del ragno (The Spider’s Stratagem, 1970) and Il conformista (The Conformist, 1971) won Bertolucci international acclaim. The latter film, which describes a tormented young fascist intellectual coming to terms with his homosexuality, was a spectacular critical success. The film received an Oscar nomination and won the National Film Critics’award. In 1972, Bertolucci’s fame turned to notoriety after the production of L’ultimo tango a Parigi (The Last Tango in Paris, 1972). Its graphic sex scenes caused the film to be banned in Italy, and Bertolucci was deprived of his vote for five years. Critical opinion on the film’s merits continues to be divided, with some regarding the film as a watershed for the cinematic art, others as embarrassingly overblown and pretentious. Bertolucci’s real masterpiece is arguably the 1976 five-hour epic 1900, which was shot in his native Po River valley with an international cast that included Burt Lancaster, Robert De Niro, Gerard Depardieu, and Donald Sutherland. A violent, squalid, heroic panorama of Italian life and politics from 1900 to 1945, the film contains some of the most moving—and most disturbing—images ever portrayed on film. In recent years, Bertolucci has moved into the commercial mainstream. The Last Emperor (1987), shot on location in China, was an epic film of glorious beauty that told the tale of Pu Yi, the last emperor of China, who survived Japanese invasion and the cultural revolution to end his life as a gardener in Beijing. The film won several Academy Awards, including best picture.
   See also Cinema.

Historical Dictionary of Modern Italy. . 2007.

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  • Bertolucci, Bernardo — (1941 )    Poet, screenwriter, director. Son of the renowned Italian poet Attilio Bertolucci, Bernardo was born into a cultured middle class family and initially appeared destined to follow in his father s artistic footsteps. From early on,… …   Guide to cinema

  • Bertolucci, Bernardo — (1941 )    Poet, screenwriter, director. Son of the renowned Italian poet Attilio Bertolucci, Bernardo was born into a cultured middle class family and initially appeared destined to follow in his father s artistic footsteps. From early on,… …   Historical dictionary of Italian cinema

  • Bertolucci, Bernardo — born March 16, 1940, Parma, Italy Italian film director. After writing poetry and an award winning book, he entered filmmaking as an assistant to Pier Paolo Pasolini in 1961. His first films as a director, The Grim Reaper (1962) and Before the… …   Universalium

  • Bertolucci, Bernardo — • БЕРТОЛУ ЧЧИ (Bertolucci) Бернардо (p. 16.3.1941)    итал. режиссёр. Снискал признание как поэт. В 1961 стал работать пом. режиссёра у П. П. Пазолини. Под его влиянием пост. в 1962 с участием непроф. актёров ф. Костлявая кума из жизни рим. низов …   Кино: Энциклопедический словарь

  • Bertolucci, Bernardo — ► (n. 1941) Director cinematográfico italiano. Inició su actividad cinematográfica como ayudante de Pasolini. Realizó El último tango en París (1972). El compromiso político le llevó a rodar Novecento (1974 75), a la que siguieron La luna (1978) …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Bertolucci, Bernardo —  (1940–) Italian film director …   Bryson’s dictionary for writers and editors

  • Bertolucci — Bertolucci, Bernardo …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • BERTOLUCCI (B.) — Fils du poète Attilio Bertolucci, Bernardo (né en 1940) entama, dès l’âge de vingt trois ans, une brillante carrière de cinéaste en réalisant Prima della rivoluzione ; mais celle ci semble s’être détournée de sa trajectoire après Dernier Tango à… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Bertolucci — (Bernardo) (né en 1940) cinéaste italien: Prima della Rivoluzione (1964), le Dernier Tango à Paris (1972), 1900 (1974 1975) …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Bernardo Bertolucci — Infobox actor name = Bernardo Bertolucci caption = birthdate = birth date and age|1940|3|16 location = Parma, Emilia Romagna, Italy yearsactive = 1962 2003 spouse = Adriana Asti (div.) Clare Peploe (1990 ) parents = Attilio Bertolucci (1911 2000) …   Wikipedia

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