From director Bernardo Bertolucci (The Conformist, Last Tango in Paris, 1900, The Last Emperor), I found this Italian film in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, I hoped I would agree with the four stars out of five that critics gave it, so I watched it and hoped for the best. Basically the film tells the story of teenager Fabrizio (Francesco Barilli), he is a young man nearing adulthood, he is a passionate and idealistic youth who lives with his aunt. Cesare (Morando Morandini), a teacher and Marxist who is engaged to lovely but bourgeois Clelia (Cristina Pariset), Cesare influences many of Fabrizio's decisions, and Fabrizio is still grieving for the death, possibly suicide, of his volatile friend Agostino (Allen Midgette). Following Agostino's funeral Fabrizio begins a love affair with alternately sweet, seductive, poetic, distracted and unhinged Gina (Adriana Asti), but then she swings the other way and sleeps with a stranger. They visit Cesare often, and Gina's older landowner friend Puck (Cecrope Barilli), their futures seem to be bleak with the relationship problems, losing land and much more, and this contrasts with what is going on with Italy and the country's future. Also starring Domenico Alpi as Fabrizio's father and Amelia Bordi as Fabrizio's mother. I have to be honest that I only vaguely paid attention to the story within the more serious stuff going on, and I found it hard to concentrate on the majority of the film's material, and not just because of having to read subtitles, I don't think I would watch it again to try and understand it better, I know it is not a bad political drama. Worth watching, in my opinion!
Review of Before the Revolution
