Remembering: Last Tango in Paris

Category: Classic Movie Reviews Created on Sunday, 24 February 2013 20:27 Written by Live Music Head Hits: 353

Remembering: Last Tango in Paris
Italian romance directed by Bernardo Bertolucci
Starring Marlon Brando and Maria Schneider
Released December 15, 1972
by Lisa McDonald
Live Music Head



The scene where Paul (Marlon Brando) gives it to Jeanne (Maria Schneider) up the you-know-where, with the aid of a finger full of butter, is prob'ly the most memorable scene in the film. Most people would say. But I think when he nails her the first time, at the beginning of the film, is also memorable. My favourite scene over all is when the two of them are finally shown together outside of that dingy old apartment, in the tango bar getting drunk on champagne and whiskey; thrown out when Paul disrupts the dance competition by mooning the entire club.

Marlon Brando, one hell of an actor, portrays a middle-aged American living in Europe, who, having recently become widowed by his wife’s suicide, begins an anonymous sexual relationship with a twenty-something Parisian girl, much of whose young voluptuous body is exposed throughout the movie.

Dark, gritty, Last Tango in Paris is a story with the same sexual themes as the 1986 film 91/2 Weeks starring Kim Basinger and Mickey Rourke. But unlike the sad ending that came of the sexual relationship between Basinger and Rourke’s characters, Brando and Schneider’s ended far more tragically.

Last Tango in Paris is an important must-see film for any serious movie buff. Its portrayal of raw sexual violence and emotional turmoil had censors going wild at the time of its release, leading to international controversy.

The trailer for Last Tango in Paris...