Bernardo Bertolucci and Luca Guadagnino hail from different generations, but both Italian directors have a bent for making sensual English-language films. And each knows what it’s like to be embraced by critics and audiences abroad but snubbed at home, as Bertolucci tells Variety in a rare interview.

Perhaps that experience has helped fuel the two auteurs’ mutual admiration. Bertolucci, whose 1987 epic “The Last Emperor” scored a historic nine-Oscar sweep, including best director and picture, has long been a champion of Guadagnino’s work, while the younger director spent two years sifting through archives to make “Bertolucci on Bertolucci,” a documentary Guadagnino considers to be his most personal film.