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This story originally ran on December 15, 2010.
Its being republished today on the occasion of Bertoluccis death.
Any one would be valid.
Here, the director dissects ten of the key scenes in his filmography.
Bertolucci:My father once told me, Youve killed me so many times in your movies.
And I was seeing my father as Athos Magnani sees his father as a hero and as a traitor.
The end is not exactly as it is in the Borges story.
So hes a prisoner of time, a prisoner of that story, and a prisoner of his father.
Bertolucci:The Conformistwas shot while I was still in the editing room withSpiders Stratagem.
In the film, the Professors phone number and address is the same as Jean-Luc Godards in Paris.
but was interested in telling a story, with characters.
And again, my father said, Okay, here we have another father killed!
Bertolucci:We sense that Marcello is suddenly feeling who he is.
He finally understands himself.
That close-up was so intense.
He said, I was thinking about the wheels of my Mercedes.
You never know with actors.
We were both thinking that we needed to go further than the erotic scenes wed done so far.
Then Marlon and I looked at each other.
That was how the idea came.
And it was very hard to tell Maria.
So we did something very naughty.
I didnt tell Maria what was going on.
And so he puts his hand in the butter.
To somebody who doesnt know whats happening, whats going on is very violent.
I think she felt betrayed by both of us.
I dont think the scene could have been shot differently.
In fact, if I had told her, there was probably no way she could have accepted.
There were many trials against Chinese padrones.
So when I shot it, I thought it was something that had a relationship with the Chinese revolution.
So in a way I was dreaming of China when I was doing1900.
I asked them about the Cultural Revolution.
I think there is a relationship between these scenes inThe Last Emperorand in1900.
But many things changed between those two films, for me and for the world.
She begins a relationship with one of their chiefs, Belqassim (Eric Vu-an).
Bertolucci: When I read the original novel, I really felt Paul Bowless homosexuality in this section.
And Debra Winger is posing as a boy during the early part of these scenes.
Belqassim is very mysterious, hes always veiled.
Theres a moment when hes washing her.
She becomes a child, in a way.
Debra Winger was always searching.
She wanted to identify so much with Jane Bowles.
And he produced an incredible fake body for the cremation.
It was perfect on the outside, but also inside.
A real corpse would not have burned that well.
But it was outrageously detailed, and it burned perfectly.
Keanu could not move his eyes while watching that.
None of us could.
Bertolucci:The sexuality of that age was so wild, and it was not loaded.
It has not been understood since that time.
Sometimes Michael would be jealous of the other two because they could communicate in another language.
Then Louis would be jealous of Michael and Eva.
But they always had great elegance.
Nobody ever came to me and complained about someone elses close-ups or anything like that.
But there was an incredible amount of intimacy going around that flat.
Bertolucci:One cant help it.
They have been in a claustrophobic state for the whole film, and now they go out.
And in going out, they separate from each other … Today, kids of that age think of tomorrow, and then another tomorrow, and then another tomorrow.
Back then, there was no tomorrow, there was just … ## Related
