The Subversives

The Subversives

1967 · 93 min · ★ 6.4 · Drama

The film combines actual footage of Communist leader Palmiero Togliatti's funeral with the intermingled stories of four people affected by his death: Ettore, a Venezuelan radical who abandons the wealthy Italian woman he loves to go back to his country and help his cause; Ludovico, an ailing filmmaker who finds out that art alone is not enough; Giulia, a woman who embarks upon a lesbian affair with a former mistress of her husband; and Ermanno, a philosophy graduate who breaks up with his past.

Directed by Paolo Taviani · Written by Paolo Taviani

Your Rating

Where to Watch

Streaming

Rent or Buy

Cast

Lucio Dalla Ermanno
Ferruccio De Ceresa Ludovico
Fabienne Fabre Giovanna
Marija Tocinoski Giulia
Giulio Brogi Ettore
Lidija Juracik Paola
Maria Cumani Quasimodo Ludovico's Mother
Barbara Pilavin Ermanno's Mother
Raffaele Triggia Ermanno's Father
Fernando Arcangeli (uncredited)
Pier Paolo Capponi Muzio
Pier Giovanni Anchisi

Make it a double feature

3h 3m together

The Subversives

St. Michael Had a Rooster

Both from Paolo Taviani.

More from Paolo TavianiSee all →

Caesar Must Die

Caesar Must Die · 2012

Caesar Must Die

MovieDramaDocumentary

Inmates at a prison in Rome rehearse for a performance of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.

Kaos

MovieFantasyRomance

Five stories center on a werewolf, a feudal landlord, peasants, a ghost, and a mother and her sons.

L'uomo dai calzoni corti

L'uomo dai calzoni corti · 1958

L'uomo dai calzoni corti

MovieDramaComedy

Salvatore, known as "bread loaf", escapes from Caltanissetta's brewery to find his mother he never met. Before arriving in Venice, he stays in a small sea village where he meets people of various kinds.

The Night of the Shooting Stars

The Night of the Shooting Stars · 1982

The Night of the Shooting Stars

The Night of San Lorenzo, the night of the shooting stars, is the night when dreams come true in Italian folklore. In 1944, a group of Italians flee their town after hearing rumours that the Nazis plan to blow it up and that the Americans are about to arrive to liberate them.

Allonsanfan

Allonsanfan · 1974

MovieHistoryDrama

After the 1815 Restoration, an aging revolutionary finds himself reluctantly involved in an attempted insurrection in Southern Italy while growing increasingly disillusioned with his cause.

Padre Padrone

Padre Padrone · 1977

The true story of the life of Gavino Ledda, the son of a Sardinian shepherd, and how he managed to escape his harsh, almost barbaric existence by slowly educating himself, despite violent opposition from his brutal father.

St. Michael Had a Rooster

St. Michael Had a Rooster · 1972

St. Michael Had a Rooster

MovieDramaHistory

Sentenced to life imprisonment for illegal activities, Italian International member Giulio Manieri holds on to his political ideals while struggling against madness in the loneliness of his prison cell.

Leonora addio

Leonora addio · 2022

MovieDramaComedy

A tale of the three funerals for the ashes of Italian writer Luigi Pirandello intertwined with a murder committed by a young Sicilian immigrant boy in 1930s Brooklyn for what is described as a surreal, grotesque, complex narrative.

Resurrection

Resurrection · 2001

MovieTV MovieDrama

At the end of the XIX century in Russia, Prince Dimitri Necklivdov is called as a jury-man in a trial. The defendant is Katiuscia Maslova, accused of murdering a merchant in order to rob him. Dimitri recognizes Katiuscia: she was the girl he seduced many years before. Dimitri decides to save her.

Rainbow: A Private Affair

Rainbow: A Private Affair · 2017

Rainbow: A Private Affair

Summer 1943, Piedmont, Italy. Milton loves Fulvia who plays with his love: she only likes the depth of his thought and the letters he writes to her. One year later, Milton has joined the Resistance and fights beside other partisans. He learns during a conversation that Fulvia was secretly in love with his best friend Giorgio, a partisan like him. Milton decides to go find Giorgio in the Langhe region of Italy with all its misty hills...But Giorgio has just been arrested by the Fascists.

The Lark Farm

The Lark Farm · 2007

MovieHistoryDrama

The Lark Farm is set in a small Turkish town in 1915. It deals with the genocide of Armenians, looking closely at the fortunes, or rather, misfortunes of one wealthy Armenian family.

Elective Affinities

Elective Affinities · 1996

Elective Affinities

MovieRomanceDrama

After an architect (Fabrizio Bentivoglio) is invited to the home of his associate, the harmony of the place comes undone with the visitor's attraction to someone.

Good Morning, Babylon

Good Morning, Babylon · 1987

Good Morning, Babylon

MovieRomanceHistory

After the bankruptcy of their father's stonemasonry firm, brothers Nicola and Andrea emigrate to America to restore their fortunes. After many adventures and near-disasters, they end up in Hollywood, designing sets for D.W. Griffith, and marry beautiful actresses. However, tragedy strikes with the arrival of World War I, which finds the brothers fighting on opposite sides...

Outlaws of Love

Outlaws of Love · 1963

Outlaws of Love

This film is very much a docudrama which portrays the difficulties of Italian life circa 1963 due to the absence of a divorce law. Five scenarios with different actors portray realistic situations where divorce is clearly warranted but, because marriage was strictly in the purview of the Catholic Church at that time, which strictly forbade divorce, these people are shown to suffer the consequences in their daily lives. Italy got its first civilian divorce law in 1970.

Wondrous Boccaccio

Wondrous Boccaccio · 2015

Wondrous Boccaccio

MovieComedyHistory

It's 1348. The plague has brutally hit Florence. A group of then young people, seven women and three men, rebel against the feeling of death that is about to swallow them. They flee the city and find refuge in an abandoned villa in the Tuscan hills. Here, between moral doubts and the tasks needed to survive, they kill time by telling each other stories until they will decide to return. The stories are varied - tragic, bizarre, funny or erotic - but common and central to all of them is the female presence.

Fiorile

Fiorile · 1993

MovieDramaRomance

The Benedetti family's wealth comes from gold stolen from the French army during the 18th century. When Jean (Michael Vartan), the lieutenant guarding the coins -- and lover of Elisabette Benedetti (Galatea Ranzi) -- is executed for a crime he did not commit, Elisabette curses the family. Bad luck travels from generation to generation. As the latest Benedettis tell their children about their eccentric grandfather, the children worry that the family curse will be passed on.

More Like This

Couldn't load this row right now.

More on Prime VideoSee all →

Masterplan

Masterplan · 2026

MovieActionThriller

When a legendary thief sets his sights on the Mona Lisa, he recruits two young strangers to help him before revealing they are long-lost siblings… and oh yes, by the way, he is their father. Thrown into a chaotic reunion they never asked for, this new family must learn to work together — and try not to kill each other — if they want any chance at pulling off the heist of the century.

Love of Your Life

Love of Your Life · 2026

Love of Your Life

MovieRomanceDrama

After a chance encounter sparks a sweeping romance, Maya's future is suddenly upended, sending her on an unexpected journey to love and live again.

War of the Worlds

War of the Worlds · 2025

War of the Worlds

MovieScience FictionThriller

Will Radford is a top analyst for Homeland Security who tracks potential threats through a mass surveillance program, until one day an attack by an unknown entity leads him to question whether the government is hiding something from him... and from the rest of the world.

The Love Hypothesis

The Love Hypothesis · 2026

The Love Hypothesis

MovieRomanceComedy

Olive Smith, a biology PhD candidate, and Dr. Adam Carlsen, a hotshot professor and well-known tyrant, enter into a fake relationship, seeing each of their carefully calculated theories on love get thrown into chaos.

My Fault

My Fault · 2023

MovieDramaRomance

Noah must leave her city, boyfriend, and friends to move into William Leister's mansion, the flashy and wealthy husband of her mother Rafaela. As a proud and independent 17 year old, Noah resists living in a mansion surrounded by luxury. However, it is there where she meets Nick, her new stepbrother, and the clash of their strong personalities becomes evident from the very beginning.

The Wrecking Crew

The Wrecking Crew · 2026

The Wrecking Crew

MovieActionComedy

Estranged half-brothers Jonny and James reunite after their father's mysterious death. As they search for the truth, buried secrets reveal a conspiracy threatening to tear their family apart.

The Last Sunrise

The Last Sunrise · 2026

The Last Sunrise

MovieRomanceDrama

Ry, a college student with a chronic illness, escapes to Mallorca for the summer with her mother, where she unexpectedly falls for a local and begins to embrace living in the moment. But as her condition worsens and long-hidden family secrets come to light, everything she has found before summer's end is threatened.

The Sheep Detectives

The Sheep Detectives · 2026

The Sheep Detectives

MovieComedyFamily

George Hardy is a shepherd who reads detective novels to his beloved sheep every night, assuming they can't possibly understand. But when a mysterious incident disrupts life on the farm, the sheep realize they must become the detectives. As they follow the clues and investigate human suspects, they prove that even sheep can be brilliant crime-solvers.

Masters of the Universe

Masters of the Universe · 2026

Masters of the Universe

MovieActionFantasy

After being separated for 15 years, the Sword of Power leads Prince Adam back to Eternia, where he discovers his home shattered under the fiendish rule of Skeletor. To save his family and his world, Adam must join forces with his closest allies, Teela and Duncan/Man-At-Arms, and embrace his true destiny as He-Man — the most powerful man in the universe.

Drawn Together

Drawn Together · 2026

MovieRomanceThriller

Marfil, daughter of a powerful Spanish businessman, sees her life in New York turned upside down when she is kidnapped and released without explanation. Her father hires Sebastian Moore as bodyguard and, forced to spend every minute together, an inevitable attraction ignites in a world where nothing is as it seems.

Red One

Red One · 2024

MovieActionAdventure

After Santa Claus (codename: Red One) is kidnapped, the North Pole's Head of Security must team up with the world's most infamous tracker in a globe-trotting, action-packed mission to save Christmas.

The Runner

The Runner · 2026

MovieThrillerAction

Maia Marten, a brilliant London lawyer, has her life shattered by a single call on her morning run: her son has been taken. To get him back, she must keep running, obey every ruthless command, and trust no one-each second a test of how far a mother will go to save her child.

Pretty Lethal

Pretty Lethal · 2026

MovieActionThriller

A troupe of ballerinas find themselves fighting for survival as they attempt to escape from a remote inn after their bus breaks down on the way to a dance competition.

Jackpot!

Jackpot! · 2024

MovieComedyAction

In the near future, a 'Grand Lottery' has been established - the catch: kill the winner before sundown to legally claim their multi-billion dollar jackpot. When Katie Kim mistakenly finds herself with the winning ticket, she reluctantly joins forces with amateur lottery protection agent Noel Cassidy who must get her to sundown in exchange for a piece of her prize.

You+Me - Against the World

You+Me - Against the World · 2026

You+Me - Against the World

MovieRomanceDrama

Alma Lancaster, 18, appears to lead a perfect life within a wealthy family who believes she is studying law. In secret, she pursues her true dream: filmmaking. On campus, she meets Vadim Arcadi, 20, a magnetic and solitary rebel with a troubled past. Forced to collaborate on a student film, they clash, grow closer and fall in love — despite themselves. But someone is watching them, determined to tear them apart and expose secrets that could destroy both Alma and Vadim.

Crime 101

Crime 101 · 2026

MovieCrimeThriller

When an elusive thief whose high-stakes heists unfold along the iconic 101 freeway in Los Angeles eyes the score of a lifetime, with hopes of this being his final job, his path collides with a disillusioned insurance broker who is facing her own crossroads. Determined to crack the case, a relentless detective closes in on the operation, raising the stakes even higher.

Jurassic World

Jurassic World · 2015

MovieAdventureScience Fiction

Twenty-two years after the events of Jurassic Park, Isla Nublar now features a fully functioning dinosaur theme park, Jurassic World, as originally envisioned by John Hammond.

Heads of State

Heads of State · 2025

MovieActionThriller

The UK Prime Minister and US President have a public rivalry that risks their countries' alliance. But when they become targets of a powerful enemy, they're forced to rely on each other as they go on a wild, multinational run. Allied with Noel, a brilliant MI6 agent, they must find a way to thwart a conspiracy that threatens the free world.

Look Back

Look Back · 2024

MovieAnimationDrama

Popular, outgoing Fujino is celebrated by her classmates for her funny comics in the class newspaper. One day, her teacher asks her to share the space with Kyomoto, a truant recluse whose beautiful artwork sparks a competitive fervor in Fujino. What starts as jealousy transforms when Fujino realizes their shared passion for drawing.

Another Simple Favor

Another Simple Favor · 2025

Another Simple Favor

MovieComedyThriller

Stephanie and Emily reunite on the beautiful island of Capri, Italy for Emily's extravagant wedding to a rich Italian businessman. Along with the glamorous guests, expect murder and betrayal to RSVP for a wedding with more twists and turns than the road from the Marina Grande to the Capri town square.

Rate this film

Your ratings make Midnight smarter