Product: Last Tango in Paris (1973)
Rating: 4.0
A Watershed for the Provacateur
I saw this film when it was first released (a very limited release, I might add, at least in Maryland), and I was about the age of Jeanne, the insouciant young French woman so brilliantly played by Maria Schneider (so sad, her life ended so young and tragically).I was completely dazzled and obsessed with the film. It was something totally different from anything I had ever seen, taking risks and using techniques never before used in any film I had seen. One is reminded of some of the other cinema greats -- Fellini, for example, who weren't afraid to risk ridicule for their art. The cinematography, the music, the script, were unlike anyting I had ever seen. The idea that two people could meet in an apartment in Paris and have the most intimate of relationships, yet know nothing significant about each other -- the thought of this was fascinating. Of course, all is bathed in the lurid light of the French apartment.Now that I am older and more jaded, I see this for what it is -- groundbreaking, and thus, dated. Like "Saturday Night Live", nothing like it had been attempted before, so it seemed better than it really is. I am sure it has been done better since. However, a few things remain untouched and absolutely stellar: 1) Brando's performance, which is incomparable in its pain and absolute believability 2) the musical score (by the great Gato Barbieri 3) the cinematography, only surpassed by Fellini.One must own this as one must own any classic.