Bernardo Bertolucci Net Worth

What was Bernardo Bertolucci's net worth?

Bernardo Bertolucci was an Italian film director and screenwriter who had a net worth of $20 million at the time of his death.

Bernardo Bertolucci's career spanned more than five decades and helped define modern European cinema. Known for his lush visual style, political themes, psychological intensity, and fascination with sexuality, power, identity, and memory, Bertolucci became one of the most celebrated and controversial filmmakers of his generation. His best-known films include "The Conformist," "Last Tango in Paris," "1900," "The Last Emperor," "The Sheltering Sky," "Stealing Beauty," and "The Dreamers." He first emerged from Italy's postwar intellectual and artistic culture, working with Pier Paolo Pasolini before becoming a major director in his own right. "The Conformist" became a landmark of political cinema and visual storytelling, while "Last Tango in Paris" brought him international fame and lasting controversy. His greatest mainstream triumph came with "The Last Emperor," which won nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. Bertolucci's career remains admired for its ambition and artistry, but also debated because of the ethical questions surrounding some of his most provocative work.

Early Life

Bernardo Bertolucci was born on March 16, 1941, in Parma, Italy. He grew up in an artistic and intellectual household. His father, Attilio Bertolucci, was a respected poet, art historian, and film critic, and his family environment exposed him early to literature, cinema, politics, and culture.

Bertolucci began writing poetry as a teenager and initially seemed likely to follow his father into literature. He attended the University of Rome, where he studied modern literature, but his interest increasingly shifted toward film. Through his father's connections, he met Pier Paolo Pasolini, one of Italy's most influential writers and filmmakers. Pasolini became an important early mentor.

Early Film Career

Bertolucci entered cinema as an assistant director on Pasolini's 1961 film "Accattone." The experience gave him direct exposure to filmmaking and helped him understand how cinema could combine realism, politics, poetry, and social critique.

He made his directorial debut with "La commare secca" in 1962, based on a story by Pasolini. Although the film showed the influence of his mentor, Bertolucci quickly began developing his own style. His second film, "Before the Revolution," released in 1964, was more personal and politically charged. The film explored youth, class, ideology, and emotional restlessness, themes that would recur throughout his career.

During the 1960s, Bertolucci became associated with the politically engaged generation of European filmmakers shaped by Marxism, psychoanalysis, student movements, and postwar disillusionment. His films often examined individuals trapped between private desire and public history.

"The Conformist"

Bertolucci's international breakthrough came with "The Conformist" in 1970. Based on the novel by Alberto Moravia, the film tells the story of a man in fascist Italy who tries to erase his personal insecurities by conforming to authoritarian power. The movie became one of the defining works of 1970s cinema.

"The Conformist" was widely praised for its visual design, moral complexity, and political sophistication. Cinematographer Vittorio Storaro's use of light, shadow, architecture, and color helped create one of the most influential visual styles in modern film. Directors including Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, and Steven Spielberg later cited Bertolucci's work as an influence.

The film established Bertolucci as a major international director and showed his ability to merge intimate psychological drama with the sweep of history.

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"Last Tango in Paris" and Controversy

In 1972, Bertolucci directed "Last Tango in Paris," starring Marlon Brando and Maria Schneider. The film became a worldwide sensation because of its explicit sexuality, emotional intensity, and bleak portrait of grief and desire. It was banned or censored in several countries and became one of the most controversial films of the decade.

The controversy surrounding "Last Tango in Paris" deepened in later years because of Schneider's public comments about her experience making the film, especially regarding the infamous butter scene. Schneider said she felt humiliated and manipulated, and Bertolucci later acknowledged that he and Brando had withheld details from her in order to capture a more authentic reaction. Those admissions caused renewed criticism of Bertolucci and reshaped how many viewers and critics discuss the film.

"Last Tango in Paris" remains central to Bertolucci's legacy, both as a landmark of adult art cinema and as an example of the ethical failures that can occur when directors place artistic ambition above an actor's dignity and consent.

Epic Filmmaking and "The Last Emperor"

Bertolucci followed "Last Tango in Paris" with "1900," an ambitious historical epic starring Robert De Niro, Gérard Depardieu, Donald Sutherland, and Dominique Sanda. The film traced decades of Italian class conflict through the lives of two men born on the same estate on the same day, one a landowner's son and the other a peasant's son. Though sprawling and uneven, it reflected Bertolucci's fascination with history, politics, and personal destiny.

His greatest commercial and awards success came with "The Last Emperor" in 1987. The film told the life story of Pu Yi, the final emperor of China, from his childhood inside the Forbidden City to his later life under Communist rule. Shot with extraordinary scale and visual beauty, the film became the first Western feature authorized to film inside the Forbidden City.

"The Last Emperor" won all nine Academy Awards for which it was nominated, including Best Picture and Best Director. The victory made Bertolucci the first Italian filmmaker to win the Oscar for Best Director and brought him the broadest recognition of his career.

Later Career

After "The Last Emperor," Bertolucci continued making internationally minded films. "The Sheltering Sky," based on the Paul Bowles novel, explored alienation and desire in North Africa. "Little Buddha" blended spiritual themes with a story about Tibetan Buddhism and reincarnation. "Stealing Beauty," starring Liv Tyler, returned to Italy for a sensual coming-of-age story set in Tuscany.

In 2003, Bertolucci directed "The Dreamers," about three young cinephiles in Paris during the 1968 student protests. The film returned to several of his lifelong interests: youth, politics, sexuality, cinema history, and the collision between private fantasy and public upheaval.

His final feature film was "Me and You," released in 2012. By that point, Bertolucci had suffered serious back problems and used a wheelchair, but he remained intellectually engaged with cinema and continued to be celebrated at major film festivals.

Personal Life and Death

Bertolucci was married to filmmaker Clare Peploe, who also worked with him creatively. Their partnership was an important part of his later life and career.

Bernardo Bertolucci died on November 26, 2018, in Rome, Italy, at the age of 77. His death prompted tributes from across the international film world, with many filmmakers and critics recognizing him as one of the major directors of postwar cinema.

Legacy

Bernardo Bertolucci's legacy is both brilliant and complicated. He was a master of visual cinema whose best films combined political history, erotic tension, psychological conflict, and painterly composition. "The Conformist" remains one of the most influential films ever made about fascism and identity, while "The Last Emperor" stands as one of the grand achievements of late-20th-century epic filmmaking.

At the same time, the controversy around "Last Tango in Paris" permanently altered how his career is discussed. Bertolucci is remembered not only for his artistry, but also for the ethical questions raised by his methods. His work continues to inspire, unsettle, and provoke debate, which is fitting for a filmmaker whose entire career was built around the unstable boundary between beauty, desire, politics, and power.

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