Episode 45: The Conformist (1970) (Guest: Aziz Huq)

Episode 45: The Conformist (1970) (Guest: Aziz Huq)

Jonathan Hafetz

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Description

This episode examines The Conformist, Bernardo Bertolucci’s 1970 political drama set in 1930s Italy. The film centers on Marcello Clerici (Jean-Louis Trintignant), a mid-level Fascist functionary who is ordered to assassinate his former professor, an anti-fascist dissident living in Paris. The film, which includes many flashbacks to Clerici’s early life and decision to join the secret police, provides powerful and chilling insights into the psychology of conformism and fascism The film, widely considered one of the greatest ever made, not only features outstanding performances but also superb production design (Fernando Scarfiotti) and cinematography (Vittorio Storaro) that helps capture Italy under Mussolini. The film is as timely today as it was when it was released, as the world witnesses a resurgence of authoritarianism in the United States and Europe.

Guest: Aziz Huq

Aziz Huq is the Frank and Bernice J. Greenberg Professor of Law, at the University of Chicago Law School. A leading scholar of US and comparative constitutional law., Aziz’s recent work concerns democratic backsliding and the regulation of AI. His award-winning scholarship is published in several books and in leading law, social science, and political science journals. He also writes for Politico, the Washington Post, the New York Times, and many other non-specialist publications. Aziz has an active pro bono practice, and is on the board of the American Constitution Society, the Seminary Coop, the New Press, and the ACLU of Illinois. Aziz previously served as a clerk for Judge Robert D. Sack of the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and then for the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg of the Supreme Court of the United States. Before joining the Chicago Law School faculty, Aziz also was counsel and then director of the Brennan Center’s Liberty and National Security Project, where I had the honor of working together with him litigating cases with him in both the US Courts of Appeals and the Supreme Court.

Timestamps:

0:00 Introduction
3:45 Fascist Italy under Mussolini
7:58 Why Clerici joins the fascists
12:39 Repression of sexual orientation and the desire to belong
14:10 Why people are vulnerable to fascism
18:56 Manganiello and the fascist enforcer
23:43 Perspectives on normalcy and the scenes in Paris
31:56 How the film speaks to the Trump era
36:40 Architecture in Mussolini’s Italy
39:08 The murder of Quadri and Anna
44:39 After Mussolini falls
50:30 The lack of consequences for going along with fascism
56:04 The Holocaust in Mussolini’s Italy

Further Reading:

Bosworth, R.J.B., Mussolini’s Italy: Life under the Fascist Dictatorship, 1915-1945 (2006)

Elbiri, Bilge, “It’s Time to See ‘The Conformist’ Again,” Vulture (Jan. 14, 2023)

Huq, Aziz, "America Is Watching the Rise of a Dual State," The Atlantic (Mar. 23. 2025)

Kael, Pauline, “‘The Conformist’: The Poetry of Images,” New Yorker (Mar. 27, 1971)

Moravia, Alberto, The Conformist (1951)

Musil, Robert, The Man Without Qualities (1930-43)

Walton, John, The Legendary Detective: The Private Eye in Fact and Fiction (U. Chicago Press (2015)

Publication Date

7-1-2025

Disciplines

Law

Episode 45: The Conformist (1970) (Guest: Aziz Huq)

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