Before the Revolution A FIlm By Bernardo Bertolucci

Italian maestro Bernardo Bertolucci was just 22 years old when he directed this coming-of-age drama set in Parma. Loosely based on Stendhal's novel 'The Charterhouse of Parma', the film follows 20-year-old Marxist Fabrizio (Francesco Barilli) in his idealistic attempt to break away from all things bourgeois. Fabrizio begins his journey by breaking off his engagement to his middle-class childhood sweetheart Clelia (Cristina Pariset).

Fabrizio's idealism is shaken, however, when his best friend (Allen Midgette) commits suicide, and he finds a temporary comfort of sorts in the arms of his young, emotionally unstable Aunt Gina (Adriana Asti).