The Conformist (1970)

I think The Conformist is more beautiful than 1900. There are so many beautiful shots here, especially the outdoor scenes in Paris, the dancing, and the blowing leaves when Marcello and his mother get out of the car.

Set in 1938, the story centers around Marcello Clerici (Jean-Louis Trintignant), who works for the Fascist government to atone the murder he has done when he was a child. "Everyone wants to be different from the others, but you want to be the same like everyone else," Italo remarks about Marcello. Marcello doesn't want to be different, because there will be less risk if he is the same as everyone else. The movie begins with Marcello and Manganiello, his colleague, follow Professor Quadri, their target, and his wife Anna. Marcello wants to save Anna, whom he loves, but Manganiello says it is too late. We then follow Marcello's life in a series of flashbacks.

In order to be the same like everyone else, apart from working for the Fascist government, Marcello marries a silly middle class girl; although according to the priest whom he gives confession to, Marcello's definition of "a normal life" is different. Marcello receives an order to assassinate his former professor, an anti-Fascist, who lives in exile in Paris. Taking his new wife to Paris for honeymoon, Marcello makes an appointment with Professor Quadri, meets his wife Anna, and falls in love with her. He almost aborts the mission and asks her to elope, but she refuses. He still tries to save her by begging her not to go with her husband to the villa in the mountain, where the mission will be launched.