Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageThe Spider's Stratagem (1970)
Director: Bernardo Bertolucci
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Bertolucci's precipitous decline into political and aesthetic misjudgments (signalled by parts of Last Tango and confirmed by long stretches of 1900) shouldn't make anyone forget that his intelligence, erotic sensibility, and wit once made him the only Italian director comparable to Pasolini. Made after The Conformist and showing Bertolucci at the height of his powers, The Spider's Stratagem transposes a Borges short story to the Po Valley in Italy, introduces a dazzling density of cultural references, and remains thrilling and extraordinary. Athos Magnani (Brogi) returns to his home town, where the defacement of the memorial to his father (a hero of '36) sets him on the trail of the truth about his parent; the world he explores is full of mysteries, omens, ambiguities, and signs of incipient madness, and it resolves itself into a riddle that is the cinema's richest homage to all that's remarkable in Borges.Author: TR
Cast & crew
Director: Bernardo Bertolucci
Producer: Giovanni Bertolucci
Cast: Giulio Brogi, Alida Valli, Tino Scotti, Pippo Campanini, Franco Giovanelli, Allen Midgett full cast
Duration: 97 mins
Top Stories
Ridley Scott interview
Director Ridley Scott tells Cath Clarke why he's making a science fiction comeback
Cannes Film Festival 2012: half-time report
Dave Calhoun reports on the hits, misses and a shocking new masterpiece from Michael Haneke
What do you think?
Post your review now