Product: Last Tango in Paris (1973)
Rating: 5.0
"Exorcisms........"
In that rarely seen Jules Dassin gem "A Dream of Passion" Melina Mercouri refers to this semi-autobiographical [is it?] movie about Brando's "Walpurgisdae' with Schneider. She does have the more difficult role - being naked most of the time, and depending where you first saw it, bits and pieces fell to the censors. This is a 'complete' version of the original.PARIS has never looked been seedier - except possibly for Polanski's "The Tenant", but that's through another lens, and there's also the now infamous side-streets and vacancies of "Pola X".Bertolucci's "Last Tango in Paris" REMAINS daring today, the premise? Yet another man, trying to make sense of his wife's unexplained suicide, embarks on an increasingly brutal sexual odyssey with a willing girl half his age. [Who knows? Rumor had it back then that the role was originally conceived with a young man in mind.] This 'journey' is an attempt to keep himself alive and grounded - somewhat along the lines of Poe's comment about drug/alcohol abuse "I drink and take opium to remain sane".Quite a harrowing journey including the infamous 'butter-scene' and still a must for the serious film student. Others have tried, Bogarde "The Night Porter" also quite sensational; "Blue" with Binoche has a 'touch' of this experience too.Brando is fortunately still very much with us; Schneider went on to make "The Passenger" with Jack Nicholson .............