Last Tango In Paris

Last Tango In Paris (NC-17)

Grade: D+

• Directed by: Bernardo Bertolucci
• Produced by: Alberto Grimaldi
• Screenplay by: Bernardo Bertolucci, Franco Arcalli, and Agnes Varda (French Dialogue)
• Starring: Marlon Brando (Paul), Marie Schneider (Jeanne), Jean-Pierre Leaud (Tom), Massimo Girotti (Marcel), Veronica Lazar (Rosa), Maria Michi (Rosa's Mother), Catherine Allegret (Catherine), Darling Legitimus (Concierge), Gitt Magrini (Jeanne's Mother)
• Cinematographer: Vittorio Storaro
• Music by: Gato Barbieri
• Distributed by: United Artists
• Released: December 15, 1972 (US)
• Running Time: 129 minutes/2 hours and 9 minutes
• Language: English, French

I know what you're thinking as you look at this poster with two people being intimate with each other.  What the hell is this film about, am I right?  Well, whether I'm right or not about how you feel, that basically describes how I felt after watching "Last Tango In Paris".  The film, which is described as an art house film, stars one of the greatest actors of all time, Marlon Brando, in a great acting performance, but even he can't save this film.

Brando plays a man named Paul, who mourns the death of his wife after she has committed suicide.  He goes to rent an apartment, where he meets a woman named Jeanne.  They have an instant attraction to each other, causing them to have sexual relations.  It's supposed to be a one time thing, but they like it so much, they want to keep on doing it.  The only catch is that they can't tell each other any personal information about themselves, not even their names.  Because of that, the film explores their relationship, and the difficulty trying to maintain these rules. 

The only positive I saw in this film was Brando's performance, which was enigmatic and polarizing.  We see two sides of Brando in this film, which are very interesting.  There's a positive, sexual, aggressive side that we see whenever he's with Jeanne, and we see a man in true agony when he mourns the death of his wife.  It's no surprise Brando nails it since the man was/is a legend, but it's a shock seeing the extent to which his feelings are magnified.  There's a great scene where Brando gives a soliloquy of sorts to his wife's body.  He pours all his emotion into that speech, and even though he's acting, it feels like everything he's saying is real.

In terms of the negatives, I don't know where to begin.  The pacing is long, which always bothers me for any film, but for this film especially, I could feel it.  I know the film had to give time to develop relationships and to show the past, but it didn't have to be this slow, especially when most of the dialogue is confusing.  The thing that really hurt this film though, and I mean REALLY hurt this, was the Jeanne character.  Marie Schneider did a good job acting and had good chemistry with Brando, but as a feminist, I was appalled at one scene that had sodomy in it.  I won't go into any more detail, but I was really offended by it, so this film took a huge hit because of that.

Bernardo Bertolucci is one of the most intriguing directors I've ever seen.  A film like this is really personal and focuses on relationships and psyche, but I've seen other films by him like "The Last Emperor", which is made on the grand scale.  The latter film is more my type compared to this which is art-house and misogynistic in some ways.  I'm not one to judge though.  Even though I didn't like this movie, and was disappointed in it because of all my expectations doesn't mean I don't think you would enjoy it.  It's just not for everyone as the rating and poster suggest.