American Cinematographer - February 2001 - 92

Shadows of the Psyche
Earlier in the film, we've also
encountered Clerici's friend Italo,
who is a blind poet. So there's this

Quadri's wife is very much like
Clerici, and she understands his
motivations.

theme of the characters

that's both literal and
Storaro:

being blind
metaphorical.

The

dream

is

certainly part of the analysis of
Marcello Clerici, and it relates back

Quadri's discussion of Plato's

to

Above: In the
back room of a
Chinese

restaurant,

Manganiello
corners

Clerici,

who is

exposed
by a swinging
lamp. Below: At
the edge of a
secluded forest,
Fascist
assassins

Bailey: Well, I think you're
being a bit harsh on yourself,

myth. In discussing the figures before
the fire, Plato is trying to tell people
to wake up to reality. They don't want
to listen, though, and instead they kill

Vittorio, because that

the dead

professor's wife
confronts

an

impassive
Clerici.

movement.

Throughout most of the film, the
moves are
very restrained and tightly
controlled. However, in the scene just
after Quadri is

killers

murdered, when the

chasing his wife through
the woods, you employ a very frantic
handheld camera. I thought that
change of tactics was just brilliant.
are

Clerici, Professor Quadri realizes that

scene, we were

his former student has been hired

which Clerici's wife dances in their

kill him. Like Plato,

striped
dress that matches the stripes of light
on the walls
a pattern created by

ing a truth that the people don't want
to

coming, and that we would
have to finish in one day. We had
already decided to shoot the
sequence in a very violent way, with

the Venetian blinds

moment

apartment while wearing a

hear

on

the windows.

I had just begun
The Conformist when I

Storaro:

working

on

went to see
scene

the house where that

would be shot. When I had

read that

in the

script, I got an
idea about how to light it, but when
were actually on the set, I only had
one arc
light. I was begging Giovanni
Bertolucci to give me two more arcs,
because I was dealing with three
windows, but he only got me one
more
light - for just two days!
Furthermore, the very first
time I met the production designer,
scene

was

when

we

preparing to shoot that scene!
He showed up the following Monday
with the striped dress for actress
Stefania Sandrelli

to

wear,

so

the

matching of the lighting and the
dress happened purely by accident!
Bailey: Near the end of the
movie, Clerici falls asleep in the car as
he and Manganiello get closer to the
site where they're going to kill
Quadri. When he wakes up, he tells
Manganiello that he's had a dream
that he

was

blind, and that Quadri

appeared as a surgeon who restored
his sight. In a sense, he's going to kill
the

one man

who could lead him

of the blindness of his
toward

some

own

out

life and

kind of understanding.

or

to

Quadri is reveal¬

understand.

After that

-

Ferdinando Scarfiotti,

February 2001

back to the

him. So after his discussion with

scene

were

90

go

camera

is still

knives into

Quadri;
later,

of

effective. Another of the film's
memorable setpieces is the scene in

very

plunge their

moments

Bailey: Let's
issue

scene,

between

there's

Clerici

a

and

Quadri's wife when she offers him
her

body and

us,

Marcello.' She also knows what

says,

'Please don't hurt

he's up to, and as she approaches him
and undresses herself, the room
turns a

very

deep indigo. At her core,

Storaro: Before

we

shot that

told that there

was a

storm

the

camera

behind

actress

Dominique Sanda, but I had no idea
that the work would be so complex
and physically demanding. I oper¬
ated a handheld Arri 2-C myself, and
Enrico Umetelli was operating
another

camera

further away

with

that
a

was

set

up

telephoto lens.
American Cinematographer - February 2001

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