Before The Revolution

Future director Francesco Barilli stars in this film about a young radical torn between his rebellious political views and the easy middle-class lifestyle to which he has become accustomed. Barilli rebels in another way as well, engaging in a love affair with his pretty aunt (Adriana Asti), but soon becomes conflicted in that area as well, choosing in the end to conform to traditional expectations. This early Bernardo Bertolucci film makes a bit too much of its protagonist's philosophical underpinnings, but is filled with amusing allusions to various films and literary works in its attempt to explore themes of man's surrender to societal pressures. Bertolucci later explored the same themes on a much larger canvas in his controversial classic 1900.