I think ,going through paintings, can help a lot,
while reading scripts, to deside on a LOOK,

When Bernardo Bertolucci and his cinematographer Vitorio Storaro
began preparing The Conformist, Storaro suggested a visual style
that would emphasize bold contrasts between light and shadow, to
reflect the conflicted nature of the film's protagonist. He said
he thought immediately of the painting above by Caravaggio, with
its strange, not quite naturalistic lighting scheme, and tried
whenever possible to introduce similar hard edges between the dark
and light areas of his images in The Conformist.

http://www.mardecortesbaja.com/blog/_archives/2007/1/8/2613844.html

best,gary