| |
The death of groundbreaking director Bernardo Bertolucci has been announced today; he was suffering from cancer. A highly accomplished creator of images, his films contained many moments of visual beauty even when his subject matter was far from beautiful, and his keenness to explore sexuality as part of the humanity of his characters was understandably controversial.
He began as an assistant to Pier Paolo Pasolini, but soon branched out on his own in the sixties, Before the Revolution his first major success, after which followed a selection of films that often grabbed the headlines: The Conformist (an examination of Italian fascism), The Spider's Stratagem, Last Tango in Paris (his most debated work), the monolithic 1900, Luna, Tragedy of a Ridiculous Man, Oscar-garlanded The Last Emperor, The Sheltering Sky, Little Buddha, Stealing Beauty and The Dreamers, which introduced Eva Green to the world. It is certain his canon - and the controversy - will long outlast him. |
 |
