I always got the impression he was but I was discussing the movie with someone who recently saw the film and they said they never got that impression. Upon going over the movie I realise that this is something that's only open as a possibility.
shareHow did you get the impression that he was bisexual? I watched the film today and did not notice any bisexual reference...
The Dominique Sanda role on the other hand...
I certainly got the impression that there was some sort of homosexual side to him, such as when he is yelling at SPOILERS the chauffeur at the end, and he calls him a fascist, a murderer, and a homosexual- it seemed like he was calling him things that actually applied more to Marcello: the first two, certainly, but perhaps also the third?
Yet he also fell in love with the professor's wife.
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I agree the important thing is that after his childhood experience of homosexuality with the chauffeur he becomes obsessed with being "normal" to try to compensate. But besides his obvious fascination with the gay kid at the end, there is another big indication that he is gay and in denial about it. This may upset some of the guys who have noted how sexy Dominique Sanda is in this, but it's obvious that her mannerisms and dress are intentionally masculine. She wears pants (an unusual thing back then) and stands and sits with her legs apart like a man, the way she smokes and her body language is very masculine, this to me is the reason why Marcello instantly falls for her.
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You are forgetting an important scene - the very first one. Marcello is in a hotel bed with a naked figure laying face-down. It is a man with long hair - probably the same one that appears at the end in the bed on the street. The man is very feminine looking. Without getting into too much detail it seemed clear to me that Marcello is a closet homosexual - his bizarre relationship with women, especially his mother, and of course the early scene with the soldier/chauffuer type guy - also a very feminine man.
shareThat was his wife while they were still in Paris. As for his homosexuality tendency, I thought that was the point and was very clear in the flashback childhood incidence with the chauffeur.
shareMost of us are neither gay or straight,but lie on the Kinsey scale,between the extremes of being completely straight and having no sexual attraction/thoughts and feelings towards the same gender.I think this is pretty rare,I mean most of us can see why Brad Pitt(or Clooney/Farrell/Paul Walker is so sexy to the ladies-b/c we ourselves are attracted to him at least a little bit-BUT we refuse to admit it to ourselves b/c all the bs gender training/indoctrination.
Old rigid gender codes is similar to religion,it must eliminated fur humanity to progress. Most men would allow for love and sex with other men if we were finally able to discard these outdated idea. This would improve humanity b/c people could LOVE who they truly LOVED.
I mean, when we see the most hardcore Rethugs getting hand jobs in bathrooms,I mean come on! If we were all honest with each other, we would admit we wouldnt mind sucking cock,anal sex,licking balls- as much as we say we would. I mean,the most OG rappers love anal sex with women.
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"Trees cause more pollution than automobiles." Ronald Reagan
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I saw this movie in my film class and my professor stated that Marcello was indeed bisexual, as was Anna Quadri.
Here are the reasons:
1. Marcello confessed to the priest that he felt attracted to a man (the chaffeur) because he looked so much like a woman. Both Marcello and the chaffeur clearly had sexual relations in that bedroom scene, right before Marcello shot him. (This is the part where the priest seemed more concerned by Marcello's homosexuality that even him killing a man.) This is the most obvious example of his bisexuality.
2. On a more symbolic level, the naked person on the bed in the beginning of the movie was face down, therefore it's "hiding the sex" so you can't tell whether it's a man or a woman. That symbolizes Marcello hiding his homosexuality because he's a fascist and fascists are supposed to be repulsed by homosexuality or some such thing.
And why Anna Quadri was bisexual...well...that was also pretty obvious. She had sex with Marcello, yet she was also attracted to Giulia, Marcello's wife in the clothes changing scene (Giulia clearly stated that she did not feel comfortable with Anna staring at her like that)
I hope that helps.
He is a typical case of a closeted homosexual, trying to negate that sexual "abnormality" within himself and trying to become "normal," hence he takes part of the fascist government and becomes "the conformist," to conform to what is perceived as "normality" within the society.
The implication is everywhere in the film...
I thought the "facing-down" person in the openning scene was Clerici's wife??!! I need to see this film again!!
shareI will agree that Marcello was bisexual or at least open to homosexuality.
(1) Marcello was deeply fascinated by Lino as a child. Lino takes off his hat and his hair falls around him. Marcello says he seemed like a woman. The 13 year old Marcello brings his face very close to Lino's making it appear that they were going to kiss. From what I remember, there is also a jump cut here indicating that there are things that occurred to which we are not witnesses. However, we are speaking of a 13 year old boy here. It seems that children ninety years ago were not as sexually aware as they are today and what he did with Lino would probably be even less of his own volition than if a 13 year old were to participate in what we consider homosexual activity. Either way, whatever happened in that room, Lino took advantage of Marcello whether Marcello was a willing participant or not.
(2) The scene at the end of the film with the guy who eats cats. He is lying on his stomach completely nude on a bed. Marcello is sitting directly outside his gate. There is very little space between them. How did it get this way? Lino was sitting on some steps with the guy who eats cats. It appeared that Lino was bribing him with food to come to his house and perform sexual favors. The guy who eats cats appeared to be not only comfortable with this but encouraging it with the manner in which he was toeing Lino's shoe. The location of the final scene appears to be near but different from the location where the conversation with Lino occurred. It appears that Marcello would have had to follow him to where the guy sleeps and he would have had to undress with Marcello there. Again, we are not a witness to what occurred between the two in the interim; however, something must have occurred for them to be in that position.
(3) Marcello witnesses Anna attempting to seduce Giulia in the dress-changing scene. If he had abhorred homosexuality, I would think that this would have upset him. Instead he watches, perhaps disinterestedly, and then walks down the hall afterward when it appears Giulia is not giving in.
Other Instances Brought Up In This Thread
(A) The scene at the hotel - Who is the person lying on his stomach in the bed in the hotel at the beginning of the film? I don't think that it is the guy who eats cats because that guy had a fro from what I remember. The hair on the person in the bed was long but it wasn't so frizzly curly. When I first saw it, I did wonder if it was a man or a woman and thought that the sex was indeterminable. My best guess is that it is Giulia even though her hair is too long. It appears that the events take place during their honeymoon and it is at the hotel they stay in. Marcello speaks to a person on the phone that I presume to be Manganiello as he meets him outside the hotel shortly afterward. I believe that this is the beginning of the pursuit to the countryside which ultimately results in the death of the Professor and Anna Quadri.
(B) Anna's attempted seduction of Giulia - There are certainly more overt clues that Anna is bisexual to say the least in this scene. Not only does it make Giulia uncomfortable that Anna is looking at her and asks her to turn around but Anna actually kisses her knee while Giulia is lying on the bed with her legs over the side and is only wearing a loose-fitting robe. Anna then puts her hand on Giulia's leg which I presume would be very threatening to someone who has never been in a lesbian relationship before. Giulia responds with something that meant, "knock it off," albeit with a smile.
All very good points you bring up. I would add to these more concrete elements another which is definitely more subjective and probably just my perspective, but I feel that Trintignant plays his character gay in a couple subtle ways. I didn't notice this on the first viewing, but the way he embraces Giulia, look at what his hands are doing... They move around her in a weird, almost jerky, and surprisingly unsensual manner. But then, that could just be my impression. That being said, he does mimick what her rapist did as she describes it, i.e. when she says he grabbed her breasts, Marcello does so in kind... So is this a perverse way of reliving or reversing the role of his own sexual molestation? Either way, it suggests perhaps a further fixation with the driver.
No one has yet mentioned Italo though! Did anyone else get a little vibe between them? Again, all very subtle, but it did strike me as odd the way he rushed to his help, leaving his wife and kid behind at a difficult moment for everyone (right after he leaves, the lights start to flicker off at home). And why does he throw Italo under the bus in the end, calling him a fascist in front of everyone? I don't remember if it was mentioned in this thread or another one, but someone brought up the idea that his accusations of Lino as a murderer, fascist, and homosexual are actually addressed to himself, so maybe he *beep* him over out of self-loathing for possible repressed feelings.
And finally, he embraces the prostitute who looks like Anna, and has a scar like the one he gave Lino...
On slightly different note, I never quite know what to make of the dancing scene. Giulia seems to have shyly rejected Anna's advances earlier, so why is she dancing seductively with her later? And what does Anna mean when says that Giulia clearly does not like her-- because of her rejections? But now again, what of the dancing? Or is Marcello telling the truth when he says that Giulia really actually admired her...? Which then means, is Giulia a smidgen sexually confused also? Giulia was definitely the most seemingly simple but as a result most confusing character, in my opinion.
I'm not sure the dancing is necessarily indicative of sexual attraction between the women. women dance/d when there were no men around, or able/willing to do it. I remember seeing elderly Polish women dancing at a polka party in N. Michigan in 1975...and let's not forget that extremely sexy but not lesbian scene in INDOCHINE where the mother teaches her daughter to Tango.
shareThis assertion seems so widespread that a lot of people take it for granted. I don't think we are expected to assume Marcello is a closeted homosexual, just someone with dark secrets -- sexual, philosophical, biographical -- that clash with the person he would like to think he is and to present to the world. The incident with the chauffeur is your classic adolescent episode -- a homoerotic encounter fairly common among boys, except for the shooting part. Obviously the incident affected Marcello at a profound level, not because of what happened, but because of how it forced him to question his identity. For somebody who seems to by nature to yearn for simple "normality," something like this would be shameful.
As an adult, Marcello exhibits no sexual attraction to any other males, although he does seem smitten emotionally and sexually by Anna Quadri (who certainly is bisexual). For him to be a closeted homosexual, he'd have to at least be depicted as struggling with active desires.
As for the figure on the bed, I'm 99.9 percent certain that is his wife. Although I agree that it's significant that Bertolucci chose to have her face down, which does obscure the gender of the figure, which only makes sense given the role of sexual doubt in this film.
There, daddy, do I get a gold star?
i agree with you mostly gnolti. but... how do you explain the ending??
shareIt's one of the greatest endings in any movie. Marcello is depicted as facing away from the light behind him, like one of the figures in Plato's cave, and then he turns around. Presumably, this symbolizes that he has grasped the "truth," whatever that means for him.
There, daddy, do I get a gold star?
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I think the last shot definetely suggests he is a closeted gay or at least a bisexual.
shareOh my god that is genius... I was going over that closing shot in my head after watching it because it's clearly significant, and now you have made me realise why! Thank you good sir.
Is that as clear as an unmuddied lake? As clear as an azure sky of deepest summer?
The film leaves out an extended sequence in the novel in which Marcello is "picked up" by a wealthy older man in a scene that echoes the one in his childhood when he is given a ride by the chauffeur. I expect Maravia had to skirt the issue due to the influence of the Catholic church in Italy at the time
BB being gay himself wanted to leave no doubt about Marcello's nature.
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I am answering your question about the dancing scene. It is a trademark of Bernardo Bertolucci's films to have a scene where there is some dancing...
shareI agree. May I add, that on the scene when they are at the celebration (Wedding party or so) Marcello asks Italo (the Fascist ¨Blind¨ guy) what is a normal man.
The first thing he says is that a normal man, turns around to watch the ass of a beautiful woman that just passed. And feels happy to see many other men doing the same, their equals. They all conform to the same stereotype and that reassures them. Anything different is not to be trusted.
He was a conformist because he was rejected as a kid. Not because he was a bisexual.
shareBB doesn't go into the earliest years of Marcello in which Moravia lays the groundwork for what will be the adult. Marcello is a sociopath and feels nothing about killing initially lizards then a cat. And he is painfully aware that this sets him off from the general population so he has to pretend he is "normal"
In the film after Marcello kills the chauffeur he sits in contemplation for a short period and then leaves the room pausing only to pull up his stockings in a gesture that symbolizes his indifference to what he has just done.
Marcello is a sociopath and feels nothingIf this were so then why does he utter some of Hadrian's dying words? Those words, in Latin, are about the soul separating from the body and that scene is spliced between other scenes but it is as Marcello is en route to the woods to assassinate Quadri. I would not have thought a sociopath to be sensitive to the immorality if his intended action such that it wrenches his soul from his body.
A bird sings and the mountain's silence deepens.share
Hadrian was a pederast who filled his court with young pages. His troops would kidnap any cute boy they saw and take him to Rome where he would be trained as a page. The most famous was Antinous who died under mysterious circumstances in Egypt at 19. He might have drown himself as he could have been tired of being Hadrian's bitch. Or it could have been an accident or perhaps murder. In any event BB wanted to reinforce the idea of Marcello's nature.
shareThank you for your informative reply about Hadrian. That makes a lot of sense. Marcello was rationalising his actions, murderous and otherwise, when quoting Hadrian. I think the novel by Moravia is a must read.
A bird sings and the mountain's silence deepens.share
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Yes, he was a closet homosexual and thereby a conformist because he couldn't stick with any one opinion. He always tried to take the route that he felt was normal.
Remember the confession scene with the priest where the priest asks if he finds his life 'normal' and then the priest gives him the indication that this life isn't normal. He tries to get into a family life quickly, because that is what he finds 'normal' . He always keeps trying to adjust according to the society.
Well put. The blind Italo's remark at the gathering about men who turn around to look at passing women is obviously aimed at Marcello too. I'd certainly guess that Bertolucci intended this speech to deepen the protagonist's air of alienation. And (this one's a long shot) is Italo also a gay man? He is grudgingly happy for Marcello in his intention to marry Giulia but he complains that he's losing his dearest friend. That doesn't say much in itself, but he seemed chuffed to overhear that conversation between the chauffeur Lino (now with short white hair) and the dark youth on the steps; his expression of mirth and fascination appears conspiratorial, like he has recognised one of his own kind. Regarding his speech referenced above, is Italo's blindness (and his inability to look at a woman's rear) a metaphor for a deeper lack of responsiveness to female beauty? A long shot as I say, and possibly clumsy.
The point another poster made about the naked young man lying face down on the hotel bed in the opening scene... I didn't even notice that at first. But Marcello covers his buttocks with the bedsheet before departing, as though his derriere were an erogenous zone. I'm stunned that some have claimed to 'not see' the intimations of Marcello's homosexuality (That strikes me as defensive and prudish, but some can't pick up hints even when they're dropped like bricks). Marcello mentions to Italo in the scene with the radio singers about Giulia pouncing on him whenever they're alone - and that's why he likes her - but she later confesses to him that she's not a virgin. So clearly nothing happened between them, up to then. Of course they later produce a daughter who Marcello clearly dotes on.
The denouement, as Marcello turns away from the shadow of the flickering fire to 'face the truth', a youth playing a gramophone (note how the dominatrix Anna earlier tried to butter up Giulia by playing gramophone music in her room) is a cinematic masterstroke...
I thought Dr T earlier in the thread made an interesting observation. Anna Qadri does dress in a masculine fashion, the way she acts, a fusion of the masculine-feminine. In some ways, Anna appears to be the mirror image of Marcello, her sexuality is not conventional (she first appears in the brothel) & she also informs on her husband. It's been a year or two since I saw the film again, but her husband flirts with Giulia as they dance, so that you assume he & his wife have an open marriage.
I've not read the source novel, but the lesbian element is more explicit as Anna tries to seduce Giulia. I gather Moravia made the connection between sexual repression & fascism.
gnolti
I also thought your post was interesting. Yes, I agree Marcello's confusion is not just rooted in sexuality, but in his attitude towards religion (he is an atheist), ideologically and his dysfunctional family background: his insane father. He is a man riven by dilemmas, not just personal (his identity, sexuality) but also philosophically & politically, and in the end, he betrays both himself as well as others. That is his tragedy.
As for the opening scene, I didn't know what people meant at first. The film plays with time-frames and flashbacks. From what I remember, the opening is set in Paris with Marcello answering the phone to his handlers on the day of the assassination. I always assumed the person lying on the bed is his wife, Giulia.