Bertolucci’s first film was based on a story by Pier Paolo Pasolini, with whom Bernardo had apprenticed a year before. In a scenario similar to Kurosawa’s Rashomon, the film is based around a series of police interviews with suspects who were scene late at night in a park in Rome, the scene of the murder of a prostitute. The interviewees’ accounts are often contradicted by flashbacks. Bit by bit, Bertolucci builds up a picture of the shady activities taking place in this corner of the city at night.