Bernardo Bertolucci: Interviews

By: Bertolucci, Bernardo

Book Overview

"We have to teach people how to read films because when it comes to the cinema there is unbelievable illiteracy. . . especially among intellectuals." Collected here are forty years of the thoughts of one of the most influential filmmakers of our time. Although the winner of nine Academy Awards for his The Last Emperor, Bernardo Bertolucci may ultimately be best remembered for his Last Tango in Paris, which Pauline Kael called the most erotic film...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1578062055
• ISBN13: 9781578062058
• Release Date: January 2000
• Publisher: University Press of Mississippi
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Two cups of Communism and a tablespoon of Freud...

"The more important the shadows are, the more value and meaning the film will have." --B.B.As with other installments of the Conversations With Filmmakers series of books, the themes that the director holds dear pop up in several of the interviews. The two persistant subjects in this book are those "great" ideas of the 20th century: Communism and Freudianism. Bertolucci wouldn't be Bertolucci without these two influences. These interviews span over 30 years of Bertolucci's career and include discussions of some of his movies that aren't currently released on DVD, like The Conformist and La Luna. The most current film discussed is 1998's Besieged. My favorite chapter was the conversation between Bertolucci and fellow filmmaker Wim Wenders from 1981 in which they essentially predict the coming popularity of reality TV. While it would probably be best to actually view the films first, this book would serve as a good introduction to Bertolucci. The book will be most valuable, however, to those familiar with his work already and those who want to know what makes Bertolucci tick.