Last Tango in Paris: Difference between revisions
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{{blockquote|They only told me about it before we had to film the scene and I was so angry. I should have called my agent or had my lawyer come to the set because you can't force someone to do something that isn't in the script, but at the time, I didn't know that. Marlon said to me: 'Maria, don't worry, it's just a movie', but during the scene, even though what Marlon was doing wasn't real, I was crying real tears. I felt humiliated and to be honest, I felt a little raped, both by Marlon and by Bertolucci. After the scene, Marlon didn't console me or apologise. Thankfully, there was just one take.<ref name="DailyMail">{{cite news |title=I felt raped by Brando |first=Lina |last=Das |date=19 July 2007 |access-date=21 April 2007 |url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-469646/I-felt-raped-Brando.html |publisher=[[Daily Mail]] |location=London}}</ref>}} |
{{blockquote|They only told me about it before we had to film the scene and I was so angry. I should have called my agent or had my lawyer come to the set because you can't force someone to do something that isn't in the script, but at the time, I didn't know that. Marlon said to me: 'Maria, don't worry, it's just a movie', but during the scene, even though what Marlon was doing wasn't real, I was crying real tears. I felt humiliated and to be honest, I felt a little raped, both by Marlon and by Bertolucci. After the scene, Marlon didn't console me or apologise. Thankfully, there was just one take.<ref name="DailyMail">{{cite news |title=I felt raped by Brando |first=Lina |last=Das |date=19 July 2007 |access-date=21 April 2007 |url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-469646/I-felt-raped-Brando.html |publisher=[[Daily Mail]] |location=London}}</ref>}} |
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Schneider also said that making the film "ruined her life" and was her life's only regret,<ref name="Downhill Ride">{{cite web |url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/film/downhill-ride-for-maria-after-her-tango-with-brando/2006/06/21/1150845244689.html |title=Downhill ride for Maria after her tango with Brando |publisher=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=22 June 2006 |accessdate=4 December 2016}}</ref> and that she considers Bertolucci a "gangster and a pimp".<ref name="Stealing Beauty">[https://www.theguardian.com/film/2004/feb/05/features.xanbrooks "Stealing Beauty"], ''The Guardian'', 5 February 2004</ref> In 2011, Bertolucci denied that he "stole her youth" (she was 19 at the time of filming), and commented, "The girl wasn't mature enough to understand what was going on."<ref>[http://daily.greencine.com/archives/007965.html "Interview: Bernardo Bertolucci"], Green Cine</ref> Schneider remained friends with Brando until his death in 2004, but never made up with Bertolucci. She also claimed that Brando and Bertolucci "made a fortune" from the film while she made very little money.<ref name="DailyMail"/> |
Schneider also said that making the film "ruined her life" and was her life's only regret,<ref name="Downhill Ride">{{cite web |url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/film/downhill-ride-for-maria-after-her-tango-with-brando/2006/06/21/1150845244689.html |title=Downhill ride for Maria after her tango with Brando |publisher=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=22 June 2006 |accessdate=4 December 2016}}</ref> and that she considers Bertolucci a "gangster and a pimp".<ref name="Stealing Beauty">[https://www.theguardian.com/film/2004/feb/05/features.xanbrooks "Stealing Beauty"], ''The Guardian'', 5 February 2004</ref> In 2011, Bertolucci denied that he "stole her youth" (she was 19 at the time of filming), and commented, "The girl wasn't mature enough to understand what was going on."<ref>[http://daily.greencine.com/archives/007965.html "Interview: Bernardo Bertolucci"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110105081412/http://daily.greencine.com/archives/007965.html |date=5 January 2011 }}, Green Cine</ref> Schneider remained friends with Brando until his death in 2004, but never made up with Bertolucci. She also claimed that Brando and Bertolucci "made a fortune" from the film while she made very little money.<ref name="DailyMail"/> |
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Schneider died in 2011. In February 2013, Bertolucci spoke about the film's effect on Schneider on the Dutch television show ''[[College Tour]]''. In the interview Bertolucci clarified that although the rape scene was in the script, the detail of using butter as a lubricant was improvised the day of shooting and Schneider did not know about the use of the butter beforehand. Bertolucci said that "I feel guilty, but I don't regret it."<ref>[http://collegetour.ntr.nl/page/detail/790329 "Bernardo Bertolucci"], ''Dutch College Tour'', NTR, 2 February 2013,</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMl4xCGcdfA |title=Bertolucci over Maria Schneider |publisher=College Tour |date=5 February 2013 |accessdate=3 December 2016}}</ref> In September 2013, Bertolucci spoke again about the scene at a retrospective at the [[Cinémathèque Française]], claiming that the scene was in the script but the use of butter was not. Bertolucci said that he and Brando "decided not to say anything to Maria to get a more realistic response".<ref name=ansa>{{cite web |url=http://www.ansa.it/web/notizie/rubriche/spettacolo/2013/09/17/Bertolucci-confessione-shock_9312378.html |title=Bertolucci, confessione shock su Ultimo tango |work=ANSA |language=Italian |date=17 September 2013 |accessdate=4 December 2016}}</ref> |
Schneider died in 2011. In February 2013, Bertolucci spoke about the film's effect on Schneider on the Dutch television show ''[[College Tour]]''. In the interview Bertolucci clarified that although the rape scene was in the script, the detail of using butter as a lubricant was improvised the day of shooting and Schneider did not know about the use of the butter beforehand. Bertolucci said that "I feel guilty, but I don't regret it."<ref>[http://collegetour.ntr.nl/page/detail/790329 "Bernardo Bertolucci"], ''Dutch College Tour'', NTR, 2 February 2013,</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMl4xCGcdfA |title=Bertolucci over Maria Schneider |publisher=College Tour |date=5 February 2013 |accessdate=3 December 2016}}</ref> In September 2013, Bertolucci spoke again about the scene at a retrospective at the [[Cinémathèque Française]], claiming that the scene was in the script but the use of butter was not. Bertolucci said that he and Brando "decided not to say anything to Maria to get a more realistic response".<ref name=ansa>{{cite web |url=http://www.ansa.it/web/notizie/rubriche/spettacolo/2013/09/17/Bertolucci-confessione-shock_9312378.html |title=Bertolucci, confessione shock su Ultimo tango |work=ANSA |language=Italian |date=17 September 2013 |accessdate=4 December 2016}}</ref> |
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=== International response === |
=== International response === |
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[[British Board of Film Classification|British censors]] reduced the duration of the [[sodomy]] sequence before permitting the film to be released in the United Kingdom,<ref>[http://www.sbbfc.co.uk/CaseStudies/Last_Tango_in_Paris Case Study: ''Last Tango in Paris''], Students' British Board of Film Classification page</ref> though it is not cut in later releases. [[Mary Whitehouse]], a Christian morality campaigner, expressed outrage that the film had been certified "X" rather than banned outright, and Labour MP [[Maurice Edelman]] denounced the classification as "a license to degrade".<ref>[https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/last-tango-in-paris-can-it-arouse-the-same-passions-now-454083.html "Last Tango in Paris: Can it Arouse the Same Passions Now?"], ''Independent''</ref> [[Chile]] banned the film entirely for nearly thirty years under its military government,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/13/world/after-banning-1092-movies-chile-relaxes-its-censorship.html|title=After Banning 1,092 Movies, Chile Relaxes Its Censorship|date=13 December 2002|work=The New York Times}}</ref> and the film was similarly suppressed in [[Portugal]] (until the [[Carnation Revolution]] in 1974, when its première became an example of the freedom democracy allows) and [[South Korea]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/movies/article/916135--bertolucci-revisited-another-tango-with-the-master-of-taboo|title=Bertolucci revisited: Another tango with the master of taboo|date=5 January 2011|work=thestar.com|location=Toronto}}</ref> |
[[British Board of Film Classification|British censors]] reduced the duration of the [[sodomy]] sequence before permitting the film to be released in the United Kingdom,<ref>[http://www.sbbfc.co.uk/CaseStudies/Last_Tango_in_Paris Case Study: ''Last Tango in Paris''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091211065556/http://www.sbbfc.co.uk/CaseStudies/Last_Tango_in_Paris |date=11 December 2009 }}, Students' British Board of Film Classification page</ref> though it is not cut in later releases. [[Mary Whitehouse]], a Christian morality campaigner, expressed outrage that the film had been certified "X" rather than banned outright, and Labour MP [[Maurice Edelman]] denounced the classification as "a license to degrade".<ref>[https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/last-tango-in-paris-can-it-arouse-the-same-passions-now-454083.html "Last Tango in Paris: Can it Arouse the Same Passions Now?"], ''Independent''</ref> [[Chile]] banned the film entirely for nearly thirty years under its military government,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/13/world/after-banning-1092-movies-chile-relaxes-its-censorship.html|title=After Banning 1,092 Movies, Chile Relaxes Its Censorship|date=13 December 2002|work=The New York Times}}</ref> and the film was similarly suppressed in [[Portugal]] (until the [[Carnation Revolution]] in 1974, when its première became an example of the freedom democracy allows) and [[South Korea]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/movies/article/916135--bertolucci-revisited-another-tango-with-the-master-of-taboo|title=Bertolucci revisited: Another tango with the master of taboo|date=5 January 2011|work=thestar.com|location=Toronto}}</ref> |
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In Australia, the film was released uncut with an R certificate by the [[Australian Classification Board]] on 1 February 1973. It received a VHS release by [[Warner Home Video]] with the same classification on 1 January 1987, forbidding sale or hire to anyone under the age of 18.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.classification.gov.au/Pages/View.aspx?sid=70tr0BFXkCqqhXJPRdSvUw%253d%253d&ncdctx=8JO1XlJQbIesPMapwiKVoO6RrlFeDeonhKVG5hjSB7Bh70Z4AqbI7%252fgXOBFryVW%2bSIcKn96R9MBIj1WNylQ6YQ%253d%253d|title=View Title: Last Tango in Paris|work=Australian Classification Board|access-date=16 February 2014}}</ref> |
In Australia, the film was released uncut with an R certificate by the [[Australian Classification Board]] on 1 February 1973. It received a VHS release by [[Warner Home Video]] with the same classification on 1 January 1987, forbidding sale or hire to anyone under the age of 18.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.classification.gov.au/Pages/View.aspx?sid=70tr0BFXkCqqhXJPRdSvUw%253d%253d&ncdctx=8JO1XlJQbIesPMapwiKVoO6RrlFeDeonhKVG5hjSB7Bh70Z4AqbI7%252fgXOBFryVW%2bSIcKn96R9MBIj1WNylQ6YQ%253d%253d|title=View Title: Last Tango in Paris|work=Australian Classification Board|access-date=16 February 2014}}</ref> |
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* {{rotten-tomatoes|last_tango_in_paris|Last Tango in Paris}} |
* {{rotten-tomatoes|last_tango_in_paris|Last Tango in Paris}} |
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* {{metacritic film|last-tango-in-paris|Last Tango in Paris}} |
* {{metacritic film|last-tango-in-paris|Last Tango in Paris}} |
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* [http://camillacastro.org/Movie/Last_Tango_In_Paris/index.html ''Ultimo Tango Em Paris'' MOVIE] |
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090629060644/http://camillacastro.org/Movie/Last_Tango_In_Paris/index.html ''Ultimo Tango Em Paris'' MOVIE] |
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* [http://www.criterion.com/current/posts/834 Pauline Kael's review] |
* [http://www.criterion.com/current/posts/834 Pauline Kael's review] |
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* [http://www.maria-schneider.net/lasttangoinparis.html Maria Schneider filmography] |
* [http://www.maria-schneider.net/lasttangoinparis.html Maria Schneider filmography] |
Revision as of 20:41, 2 September 2017
Last Tango in Paris | |
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![]() Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Bernardo Bertolucci |
Screenplay by |
|
Story by | Bernardo Bertolucci |
Produced by | Alberto Grimaldi |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Vittorio Storaro |
Edited by |
|
Music by | Gato Barbieri |
Production companies | |
Distributed by | United Artists |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 129 minutes (original NC-17/X-rated version) 250 minutes (rough cut)[1] |
Countries |
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Languages |
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Budget | $1.25 million[2] |
Box office | $96.3 million[3] |
Last Tango in Paris (Italian: Ultimo tango a Parigi) is a 1972 Franco-Italian erotic drama film directed by Bernardo Bertolucci which portrays a recently widowed American who begins an anonymous sexual relationship with a young Parisian woman. It stars Marlon Brando, Maria Schneider, and Jean-Pierre Léaud.
The film's raw portrayal of sexual violence and emotional turmoil led to international controversy and drew various levels of government censorship in different venues. Upon release in the United States, the most graphic scene was cut and the MPAA gave the film an X rating. After revisions were made to the MPAA ratings code, in 1997 the film was re-classified NC-17 for "some explicit sexual content". Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer released a censored R-rated cut in 1981.
Plot
Paul (Marlon Brando), a middle-aged American hotel owner mourning his wife's suicide, meets a young, engaged Parisian woman named Jeanne (Maria Schneider) at an apartment that both are interested in renting. Paul takes the apartment after they begin an anonymous sexual relationship there. He insists that neither of them must share any personal information, even given names. The affair continues until one day, Jeanne arrives at the apartment and finds that Paul has packed up and left without warning.
Paul later meets Jeanne on the street and says he wants to renew the relationship. He tells her of the recent tragedy of his wife. As he tells his life story, they walk into a tango bar, where he continues telling her about himself. The loss of anonymity disillusions Jeanne about their relationship. She tells Paul she does not want to see him again. Paul, not wanting to let Jeanne go, chases her back to her apartment, where he tells her he loves her and wants to know her name.
Jeanne takes a gun from a drawer. She tells Paul her name and shoots him. Paul staggers out onto the balcony, mortally wounded, and collapses. As Paul dies, a dazed Jeanne mutters to herself that he was just a stranger who tried to rape her and she did not know who he was, as if in a rehearsal, preparing herself for questioning by the police.
Cast
- Marlon Brando as Paul, an American expatriate and hotel owner
- Maria Schneider as Jeanne, a young Parisian woman
- Jean-Pierre Léaud as Thomas, a film director and Jeanne's fiance
- Maria Michi as Rosa's mother
- Massimo Girotti as Marcel, Rosa's former lover
- Giovanna Galletti as the prostitute, an old acquaintance of Rosa
- Catherine Allégret as Catherine, a maid at Paul and Rosa's hotel
- Gitt Magrini as Jeanne's mother
- Luce Marquand as Olympia, Jeanne's former childhood nurse
- Dan Diament as the TV sound engineer
- Catherine Sola as the script girl
- Mauro Marchetti as the TV cameraman
- Peter Schommer as the TV assistant cameraman
- Catherine Breillat as Mouchette, a dressmaker
- Marie-Hélène Breillat as Monique, a dressmaker
- Darling Légitimus as the Concierge
- Veronica Lazar as Rosa, Paul's deceased wife
- Armand Abplanalp as the prostitute's client
- Rachel Kesterber as Christine
- Ramón Mendizábal as the Tango orchestra leader
- Mimi Pinson as the President of Tango jury
- Gérard Lepennec as the tall furniture mover
- Stéphane Koziak as the short furniture mover
- Michel Delahaye (scenes deleted) as the Bible salesman
- Laura Betti (scenes deleted) as Miss Blandish
- Jean-Luc Bideau (scenes deleted) as the Barge Captain[4]
- Gianni Pulone (scenes deleted)
- Franca Sciutto (scenes deleted)
Production
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a3/Bir-Hakeim-1.jpg/200px-Bir-Hakeim-1.jpg)
Bernardo Bertolucci developed the film from his sexual fantasies: "He once dreamed of seeing a beautiful nameless woman on the street and having sex with her without ever knowing who she was".[5] The screenplay was by Bertolucci, Franco Arcalli, and Agnès Varda (additional dialogue). It was later adapted as a novel by Robert Alley. The film was directed by Bertolucci with cinematography by Vittorio Storaro.
Bertolucci originally intended to cast Dominique Sanda, who developed the idea with him, and Jean-Louis Trintignant. Trintignant refused and, when Brando accepted, Sanda was pregnant and decided not to do the film.[5]
An art lover, Bertolucci drew inspiration from the works of the Irish-born British artist Francis Bacon for the opening sequence of cast and crew credits.[6] According to American artist Andy Warhol, the Last Tango film was based on Warhol's own Blue Movie film released a few years earlier in 1969.[7]
Controversial rape scene
The film contains a scene in which Brando's character engages in anal rape using butter as a lubricant. In a 2006 interview, Schneider said that the scene was not in the script and that "when they told me, I had a burst of anger. Woo! I threw everything. And nobody can force someone to do something not in the script. But I didn't know that. I was too young".[8] In 2007, Schneider recounted feelings of sexual humiliation pertaining to the rape scene:
They only told me about it before we had to film the scene and I was so angry. I should have called my agent or had my lawyer come to the set because you can't force someone to do something that isn't in the script, but at the time, I didn't know that. Marlon said to me: 'Maria, don't worry, it's just a movie', but during the scene, even though what Marlon was doing wasn't real, I was crying real tears. I felt humiliated and to be honest, I felt a little raped, both by Marlon and by Bertolucci. After the scene, Marlon didn't console me or apologise. Thankfully, there was just one take.[9]
Schneider also said that making the film "ruined her life" and was her life's only regret,[8] and that she considers Bertolucci a "gangster and a pimp".[10] In 2011, Bertolucci denied that he "stole her youth" (she was 19 at the time of filming), and commented, "The girl wasn't mature enough to understand what was going on."[11] Schneider remained friends with Brando until his death in 2004, but never made up with Bertolucci. She also claimed that Brando and Bertolucci "made a fortune" from the film while she made very little money.[9]
Schneider died in 2011. In February 2013, Bertolucci spoke about the film's effect on Schneider on the Dutch television show College Tour. In the interview Bertolucci clarified that although the rape scene was in the script, the detail of using butter as a lubricant was improvised the day of shooting and Schneider did not know about the use of the butter beforehand. Bertolucci said that "I feel guilty, but I don't regret it."[12][13] In September 2013, Bertolucci spoke again about the scene at a retrospective at the Cinémathèque Française, claiming that the scene was in the script but the use of butter was not. Bertolucci said that he and Brando "decided not to say anything to Maria to get a more realistic response".[14]
Criminal proceedings were brought against Bertolucci in Italy for the anal sex scene; the film was sequestered by the censorship commission and all copies were ordered destroyed. An Italian court revoked Bertolucci's civil rights for five years and gave him a four-month suspended prison sentence.[15]
In November 2016, a slightly different version of the 2013 College Tour interview was uploaded to YouTube[16] by the Spanish nonprofit El Mundo de Alycia on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.[17] accompanied by a statement concluding that the scene "abused [Schneider] psychologically and, who knows if also, physically..."[18] This gained attention when Yahoo! Movies writer Tom Butler wrote an article about it[19] prompting several celebrities to condemn the film and Bertolucci[20] and a number of newspapers picked up on the story, reporting that Bertolucci had "confessed" to Schneider being raped on set, prompting Bertolucci to release a statement, clarifying that a simulation and not an actual intercourse took place.[21][17]
Bertolucci also shot a scene which showed Brando's genitals, but in 1973 explained, "I had so identified myself with Brando that I cut it out of shame for myself. To show him naked would have been like showing me naked."[22] Schneider declared in an interview that "Marlon said he felt raped and manipulated by it and he was 48. And he was Marlon Brando!".[22] Like Schneider, Brando confirmed that the sex was simulated.[17] Bertolucci said about Brando that he was "a monster as an actor and a darling as a human being". Brando refused to speak to Bertolucci for 15 years after the production was completed.
I was thinking that it was like a dialogue where he was really answering my questions in a way. When at the end of the movie, when he saw it, I discovered that he realized what we were doing, that he was delivering so much of his own experience. And he was very upset with me, and I told him, "Listen, you are a grownup. Older than me. Didn't you realize what you were doing?" And he didn't talk to me for years.[23]
However;
I called him one day in '93, I think, I was in LA and my wife was shooting a movie. First of all, he answered the phone, and he was talking to me like we had seen each other a day earlier. He said, "Come here." I said, "When?" He said, "Now." So I remember driving on Mulholland Drive to his home and thinking I think I won't make it, I think I will crash before [I get there]. I was so emotional.
Francis Bacon influence
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/7b/FrancisBacon-StudyforPortraitofIsabelRawsthorne.jpg/200px-FrancisBacon-StudyforPortraitofIsabelRawsthorne.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/cc/FrancisBacon-PortraitofIsabelRawsthorne.jpg/200px-FrancisBacon-PortraitofIsabelRawsthorne.jpg)
The film's opening credits include two paintings by Francis Bacon: Double Portrait of Lucian Freud and Frank Auerbach and Study for a Portrait of Isabel Rawsthorne. The hues used in the film were inspired by the paintings of Bacon.[24] During pre-production, Bertolucci frequently visited an exhibit of Bacon's paintings at the Grand Palais in Paris; he said that the light and colour in Bacon's paintings reminded him of Paris in the winter, when
the lights of the stores are on, and there is a very beautiful contrast between the leaden gray of the wintry sky and the warmth of the show windows...the light in the paintings was the major source of inspiration for the style we were looking for.[25]
Bacon's painting style often depicted human skin like raw meat and the painter's inspiration included meat hanging in a butcher shops window and human skin diseases.[25]
Cinematographer Vittorio Storaro had previously worked with Bertolucci on The Conformist and often used an azure hue in the film. Storaro later told a reporter that
after The Conformist I had a moment of crisis; I was asking myself: what can come after azure?...I did not have the slightest idea that an orange film could be born. We needed another kind of emotion...It was the case of Last Tango.[25]
For Last Tango in Paris, Bertolucci and Storaro took inspiration from Bacon's paintings by using "rich oranges, light and cool grays, icy whites, and occasional reds combine[d] with Bertolucci's own tasteful choices of soft browns, blond browns, and delicate whites with bluish and pink shadings".[26]
Bertolucci took Marlon Brando to the Bacon exhibit and told Brando that he "wanted him to compare himself with Bacon's human figures because I felt that, like them, Marlon's face and body were characterized by a strange and infernal plasticity. I wanted Paul to be like the figures that obsessively return in Bacon: faces eaten by something coming from the inside."[25]
Brando's lines
As was his practice in previous films, Brando refused to memorise his lines for many of the scenes. Instead he wrote his lines on cue cards and posted them around the set, leaving Bertolucci with the problem of keeping them out of the picture frame. During his long monologue over the body of his wife, for example, Brando's dramatic lifting of his eyes upward is not spontaneous dramatic acting but a search for his next cue card.[27] Brando asked Bertolucci if he could "write lines on Maria's rear end", which the director rejected.[22]
Soundtrack
Untitled | |
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The film score was composed by Gato Barbieri, arranged and conducted by Oliver Nelson, and the soundtrack album was released on the United Artists label.[29][30] AllMusic's Richie Unterberger noted "Although some of the smoky sax solos get a little uncomfortably close to 1970s fusion cliché, Gato Barbieri's score to Bertolucci's 1972 classic is an overall triumph. Suspenseful jazz, melancholy orchestration, and actual tangos fit the film's air of erotic longing, melancholy despair, and doomed fate".[28]
Track listing
All compositions by Gato Barbieri.
- "Last Tango in Paris - Tango" – 3:32
- "Jeanne" – 2:34
- "Girl in Black - Tango (Para mi Negra)" – 2:06
- "Last Tango in Paris - Ballad" – 3:43
- "Fake Ophelia" – 2:57
- "Picture in the Rain" – 1:51
- "Return - Tango (La Vuelta)" – 3:04
- "It's Over" – 3:15
- "Goodbye (Un Largo Adios)" – 2:32
- "Why Did She Choose You?" – 3:00
- "Last Tango in Paris - Jazz Waltz" – 5:44
Personnel
- Gato Barbieri – tenor saxophone, flute, vocal
- Franco D'Andrea – piano
- Franco Goldani, Wolmer Beltrani – accordion
- Jean-François Jenny-Clark, Giovanni Tommaso – bass
- Pierino Munari – drums
- Afonso Vieira – percussion, berimbau
- Ivanir "Mandrake" do Nascimento – percussion, tambourine
- Orchestra arranged and conducted by Oliver Nelson
Post-production
![]() | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (December 2016) |
Last Tango in Paris was edited by Franco Arcalli and Roberto Perpignani.
Reception
The film opened in late 1972 in France, where filmgoers stood in two-hour queues for the first month of its run at the seven cinemas where it was screened.[27] It gained unanimous positive reviews in every major French publication.[31] To circumvent state censorship, thousands of Spaniards travelled hundreds of kilometers to reach French cinemas in Biarritz and Perpignan where Tango was playing.[32] Following that, it was released in the United States, Great Britain, and other venues.
The film generated considerable controversy because of its subject and graphic portrayal of sex. Schneider provided frank interviews in the wake of Tango's controversy, claiming she had slept with fifty men and seventy women, that she was "bisexual completely", and that she was a user of heroin, cocaine, and marijuana. She also said of Bertolucci, "He's quite clever and more free and very young. Everybody was digging what he was doing, and we were all very close."[33]
During the publicity for the film's release, Bertolucci said Schneider developed an "Oedipal fixation with Brando".[22] Schneider said Brando sent her flowers after they first met, and "from then on he was like a daddy".[27] In a later interview, Schneider denied this, saying, "Brando tried to be very paternalistic with me, but it really wasn't any father-daughter relationship."[22] However, in 2007 she said that "for me, he was more like a father figure and I a daughter."[9]
Response in United States
October 14, 1972... should become a landmark in movie history comparable to May 29, 1913—the night Le Sacre du Printemps was first performed—in music history... Last Tango in Paris has the same kind of hypnotic excitement as the Sacre, the same primitive force, and the same thrusting, jabbing eroticism. The movie breakthrough has finally come. — Pauline Kael[34]
The film premiered in New York City on 14 October 1972, to enormous public controversy, as it had received coverage after opening in France. The media frenzy surrounding the film generated intense popular interest as well as moral condemnation, and the film was featured in cover stories in both Time[35] and Newsweek[22] magazines. Playboy published a photo spread of Brando and Schneider "cavorting in the nude".[22] Time wrote,
Any moviegoers who are not shocked, titillated, disgusted, fascinated, delighted or angered by this early scene in Bernardo Bertolucci's new movie, Last Tango in Paris, should be patient. There is more to come. Much more.[27]
The Village Voice reported walkouts by board members and "vomiting by well-dressed wives".[36] Columnist William F. Buckley and ABC's Harry Reasoner denounced the film as "pornography disguised as art".[22]
After local government officials failed to ban the film in Montclair, New Jersey, theatergoers had to push through a mob of 200 outraged residents, who hurled epithets like "perverts" and "homos" at the attendees. Later, a bomb threat temporarily halted the showing.[37] The New York chapter of the National Organization for Women denounced the film as a tool of "male domination".[38]
The film's scandal centred mostly on an anal rape scene, featuring Paul's use of butter as a lubricant.[39][40] According to Schneider, the scene was not in the original script, but was Brando's idea.[8] Other critics focused on when the character Paul asks Jeanne to insert her fingers in his anus, then asks her to prove her devotion to him by, among other things, having sex with a pig. Vincent Canby of The New York Times described the film's sexual content as the artistic expression of the "era of Norman Mailer and Germaine Greer".[41]
Film critic Pauline Kael endorsed the film, writing that "Tango has altered the face of an art form. This is a movie people will be arguing about for as long as there are movies."[27] She called it "the most powerfully erotic movie ever made, and it may turn out to be the most liberating movie ever made."[42] United Artists reprinted the whole of Kael's rave as a double-page advertisement in the Sunday New York Times. Kael's review of Last Tango in Paris is regarded as the most influential piece of her career.[43] The American critic Roger Ebert repeatedly described it as "the most famous movie review ever published", and he added the film to his "Great Movies" collection.[44][45]
American director Robert Altman expressed unqualified praise: "I walked out of the screening and said to myself, 'How dare I make another film?' My personal and artistic life will never be the same."[22] Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes retrospectively collected 31 reviews to give the film a rating of 80%.[46]
The film earned $12,625,000 in North American rentals in 1973.[47]
International response
British censors reduced the duration of the sodomy sequence before permitting the film to be released in the United Kingdom,[48] though it is not cut in later releases. Mary Whitehouse, a Christian morality campaigner, expressed outrage that the film had been certified "X" rather than banned outright, and Labour MP Maurice Edelman denounced the classification as "a license to degrade".[49] Chile banned the film entirely for nearly thirty years under its military government,[50] and the film was similarly suppressed in Portugal (until the Carnation Revolution in 1974, when its première became an example of the freedom democracy allows) and South Korea.[51]
In Australia, the film was released uncut with an R certificate by the Australian Classification Board on 1 February 1973. It received a VHS release by Warner Home Video with the same classification on 1 January 1987, forbidding sale or hire to anyone under the age of 18.[52]
In Italy, the film was released on 15 December 1972, grossing an unprecedented $100,000 in six days.[53] One week later, however, police seized all copies on the order of a prosecutor, who defined the film as "self-serving pornography", and its director was put on trial for "obscenity". Following first degree and appeal trials, the fate of the film was sealed on 26 January 1976 by the Italian Supreme Court, which sentenced all copies to be destroyed (though some were preserved by the National Film Library). Bertolucci was served with a four-month suspended sentence in prison and had his civil rights revoked for five years, depriving him of voting rights.[10]
In Canada, the film was banned by the Nova Scotia Board of Censors, leading to the landmark 1978 Supreme Court of Canada split decision in Nova Scotia (Board of Censors) v McNeil, which upheld the provinces' right to censor films.[54]
Accolades
Brando received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role and Bertolucci was nominated for Best Director.[55]
References
- ^ "Ultimo tango a Parigi (1972) – Alternate Versions – IMDb". IMDb.
- ^ Tino Balio, United Artists: The Company That Changed the Film Industry, Uni of Wisconsin Press, 1987 p 288
- ^ "Last Tango in Paris (1972) – Box office / business". IMDb. Retrieved 30 January 2012.
- ^ Arcalli & Bertolucci 1972, pp. 21–22.
- ^ a b Taylor, Sophie (4 February 2011). "Last Tango in Paris star Maria Schneider dies at 58". The Week. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
- ^ "A celebration of 500 years of British Art". Life: The Observer Magazine, 19 March 2000.
- ^ Comenas, Gary (2005). "Blue Movie (1968)". WarholStars.org. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
- ^ a b c "Downhill ride for Maria after her tango with Brando". The Sydney Morning Herald. 22 June 2006. Retrieved 4 December 2016.
- ^ a b c Das, Lina (19 July 2007). "I felt raped by Brando". London: Daily Mail. Retrieved 21 April 2007.
- ^ a b "Stealing Beauty", The Guardian, 5 February 2004
- ^ "Interview: Bernardo Bertolucci" Archived 5 January 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Green Cine
- ^ "Bernardo Bertolucci", Dutch College Tour, NTR, 2 February 2013,
- ^ "Bertolucci over Maria Schneider". College Tour. 5 February 2013. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
- ^ "Bertolucci, confessione shock su Ultimo tango". ANSA (in Italian). 17 September 2013. Retrieved 4 December 2016.
- ^ Rannakino (2012). "Bernardo Bertolucci". Rannakino. Rannakino. Retrieved 26 August 2012.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Bertolucci sobre Maria Schneider / Bertolucci admits rape scene was non-consensual". 23 November 2016 – via YouTube.
- ^ a b c Izadi, Elahe (5 December 2016). "Why the 'Last Tango in Paris' rape scene is generating such an outcry now". The Washington Post. Retrieved 5 December 2016.
- ^ "Bertolucci confiesa la violación de Maria Schneider". El Mundo de Alycia (in Spanish). 25 November 2016. Retrieved 5 December 2016.
- ^ Butler, Tim (30 November 2016). "Bertolucci admits infamous Last Tango 'butter' rape scene was non-consensual". Yahoo Movies. Retrieved 4 December 2016.
- ^ Lincoln, Ross A. (3 December 2016). "Hollywood Reacts With Disgust At 'Last Tango' Rape Scene Revelations". Deadline. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
- ^ Vivarelli, Nick (5 December 2016). "Bernardo Bertolucci Responds to 'Last Tango in Paris' Backlash Over Rape Scene". Variety. Retrieved 5 December 2016.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Michener, Charles. "Tango: The Hottest Movie", Newsweek, 12 February 1973
- ^ "Legendary Oscar-Winner Bernardo Bertolucci's Career Celebrated at MoMA", The Huffington Post
- ^ Tonetti 1995, p. 233.
- ^ a b c d Tonetti 1995, p. 126.
- ^ Tonetti 1995, p. 127.
- ^ a b c d e "Self-Portrait of an Angel and Monster", Time
- ^ a b Unterberger, Richie. Last Tango in Paris – Review at AllMusic. Retrieved February 8, 2016.
- ^ Edwards, D., Eyries, P., Watts, R., Neely, T. & Callahan, M., Discography Preview for the United Artists label "LA" Consolidated Series (1972-1981) accessed February 8, 2016
- ^ Payne, D., Oliver Nelson dicography accessed February 8, 2016
- ^ "'Last Tango' Wins Raves in France". The New York Times, 16 December 1972. pg. 24.
- ^ Giniger, Henry. "Spaniards Seeing 'Tango' in France". The New York Times, 16 April 1973, pg. 49
- ^ Klemesrud, Judy. "Maria Says her 'Tango' is Not". The New York Times. 4 February 1973, pg. 117.
- ^ Arcalli & Bertolucci 1972, p. 9.
- ^ Last Tango in Paris Cover Story
- ^ "Last Tango in Paris: Can it arouse the same passions now?", Independent
- ^ Waggoner, Walter H. "Pickets Call 'Tango' Filthy as it Starts its Montclair Run". The New York Times, 26 April 1973. pg. 91.
- ^ Johnston, Laurie. "'Women's Power' Protests 'Male Domination' of Wall St." The New York Times, 24 August 1973, pg. 39.
- ^ "Sick Stick". New York Post. 23 July 2007. Archived from the original on 14 December 2007.
{{cite news}}
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suggested) (help) - ^ Jenkins, Tamara. "Movies: About Last Tango in Paris". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
- ^ Canby, Vincent. "Last Tango in Paris".
- ^ Arcalli & Bertolucci 1972, p. 10.
- ^ "Finding It at the Movies", New York Review of Books
- ^ "Last Tango in Paris". Roger Ebert website
- ^ Roger Ebert (15 August 2004). "Last Tango in Paris". suntimes.com.
- ^ "Last Tango in Paris". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 10 January 2012.
- ^ "Big Rental Films of 1973", Variety, 9 January 1974 p. 19
- ^ Case Study: Last Tango in Paris Archived 11 December 2009 at the Wayback Machine, Students' British Board of Film Classification page
- ^ "Last Tango in Paris: Can it Arouse the Same Passions Now?", Independent
- ^ "After Banning 1,092 Movies, Chile Relaxes Its Censorship". The New York Times. 13 December 2002.
- ^ "Bertolucci revisited: Another tango with the master of taboo". thestar.com. Toronto. 5 January 2011.
- ^ "View Title: Last Tango in Paris". Australian Classification Board. Retrieved 16 February 2014.
- ^ Gussow, Mel. "Bertolucci Talks about Sex, Revolution, and 'Last Tango'". The New York Times, 2 February 1973, pg. 20.
- ^ "Supreme Court of Canada – Decisions". Scc.lexum.org. Retrieved 20 October 2012.
- ^ "The 46th Academy Awards (1974) Nominees and Winners". Beverly Hills: oscars.org and Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 27 August 2013.
Bibliography
- Arcalli, Franco; Bertolucci, Bernardo (1972). Bernardo Bertolucci's Last Tango in Paris, the screenplay. New York: Delacorte Press.
- Tonetti, Claretta Micheletti (1995). Bernardo Bertolucci, The Cinema of Ambiguity. New York: Twayne Publishers. ISBN 0-8057-9313-5.
External links
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- 1972 films
- 1970s erotic films
- 1970s romantic drama films
- French films
- French drama films
- French erotic films
- Italian films
- Italian drama films
- Italian erotic films
- English-language films
- French-language films
- Censorship in Italy
- Erotic romance films
- Films about grieving
- Films about murder
- Films about sexuality
- Films about suicide
- Films about widowhood
- Films directed by Bernardo Bertolucci
- Films produced by Alberto Grimaldi
- Films set in Paris
- Obscenity controversies in film
- Rape in film
- Sexual revolution
- United Artists films