The enormous suspense potential of the Alberto Moravia novel, about an Italian Fascist whose yearning for normality and acceptance has brought him the assignment of murdering his former professor, remains buried beneath the hot-shot gimmickries and smart-aleckries indulged in by Bertolucci — the shuffled time sequence, the overly choreographed snow-white insane asylum, the mountains of walnuts piled high around a bureaucrat's office, the virtuoso hand-held-camera scramble through the forest, and the like. With Jean-Louis Trintignant, Dominique Sanda, Stefania Sandrelli. — Duncan Shepherd
This movie is not currently in theaters.