The premise fundamental to [The Conformist and Last Tango in Paris] is an indictment of one of society's cornerstones, the bourgeois family, all too apt to suppress manifestations of spontaneous feeling in its members, stifling individuality by forcing it into a uniform limbo of bland conformity. The suppression of natural feelings is not, however, tantamount to their elimination, and thus they are destined to resurface in a distorted guise. For the protagonist of The Conformist, Marcello Clerici, and outlet, condoned by his society, is to be found in the potential savagery of Fascism; for the sequestered lovers of Last Tango in Paris, Jeanne and Paul, release is sought in a primeval sexual relationship divorced from all temporal and social conditioning. In both instances the influence of the bourgeois family proves itself to be more forceful than all attempts at evading its repressive teachings: neither Marcello, Jeanne nor Paul...