In 1962, the year in which he directed his first film The Grim Reaper, Bernado Bertolucci published a book of poetry entitled In cerca del mistero (In Search of Mystery) - a title which characterizes his entire cinematic work. In this study, Claretta Tonetti recognizes that Bertolucci search for knowledge is never dogmatic, and that he never claims to have all the answers, aesthetically or otherwise. The open-ended quality of his films, based on his own admitted difficulty to finish, bears witness to this. Instead, Bertolucci allows the audience to take part in the director's creative process, one that - like life itself - is ever evolving.