Product: Last Tango in Paris (1973)
Rating: 3.0
Bertolucci has done better...
This is a good film that still retains some of its power, but I think Bertolucci has done better, much better. I can understand the shock waves that this film caused back in 1972, especially the casting of Brando in an X rated film. It has a lot to like about it. It has great performances (especially by Brando), great cinematography by Vittorio Storaio, a great music score (an underrated part of this film), and good supporting performances. Jean Pierre Leaud is hilarious as a pretentious poser filmmaker, and Catherine Breillat, the great French filmmaker, plays the sound person in Leaud's crew. She has one line "dogs are more faithful than people". She might have written it herself.But I watched it recently, and while I still like a lot of it, it wasn't as shocking or as fresh the first time I saw it, which made me a little sad. I am glad, however, that Bertolucci had a hit with this, as he got to make his incredibly ambitious epic, 1900. Bertolucci has made many better films than this one, like The Conformist, 1900, and The Last Emperor. Last Tango in Paris is a good film, but it's not Bertolucci's greatest.