“Bernardo Bertolucci vomited the first time he met Jean-Luc Godard, and even if things went more smoothly after that, it was never exactly plain sailing. ‘We all wanted to be Godard’, Bertolucci once said, and he took every opportunity to praise À Bout de Souffle (1960), the film that changed everything, but his only published article about Godard ran under the title Versus Godard, in the January 1967 edition of Cahiers du Cinéma. Three years on, Bertolucci was communicating not just his opposition to Godard but his desire to be rid of him altogether, by lending Godard’s Paris address and telephone number to the anti-fascist professor assassinated in what was to become his most celebrated film. The Conformist, he announced, only half-joking, ‘is a story about me and Godard.’ The story didn’t end there; among other contradictory developments, it was Bertolucci, as president of the Venice jury, who awarded Godard’s Prénom Carmen the Golden Lion in 1983. The question of whether to kill the father or to kiss him is one that is central to Bertolucci’s films, and to his life.” Leo Robson
Thursday, February 7 2019 | 8PM La commare secca aka The Grim Reaper Italy 1962 d. Bernardo Bertolucci with Marisa Solinas, Allen Midgette, Giancarlo De Rosa and Alfredo Leggi. In Italian with English subtitles. Black and white. 88 m
Thursday, February 14 2019 | 8PM Partner Italy 1968 d. Bernardo Bertolucci with Pierre Clémenti, Stefania Sandrelli, Tina Aumont, Sergio Tofano and Ninetto Davoli. In Italian with English subtitles. Colour. 108 m
Thursday, February 21 2019 | 8PM Il conformista aka The Conformist Italy 1970 d. Bernardo Bertolucci with Jean Louis Trintignant, Stefania Sandrelli, Gastone Moschin, Dominique Sanda and Pierre Clémenti. In Italian with English subtitles. Colour. 111 m
Thursday, February 28 2019 | 8PM Last Tango In Paris Italy 1972 d. Bernardo Bertolucci with Marlon Brando, Maria Schneider, Jean-Pierre Léaud, Maria Michi, Massimo Girotti, Giovanna Galletti and Catherine Allégret. In English and French with English subtitles. Colour. 129 m