Product: Last Tango in Paris (1973)
Rating: 4.0
MARIA SCHNEIDER'S SAD, BRILLIANT EPITAPH TO LOST INNOCENCE
The impact of Bernardo Bertolucci's notorious yet widely lauded 1973 film cannot be overstated. A product of the times, Brando is a nihilistic middle-aged widower who indulges - some say, forces - an anonymous sexual encounter with Jeanne, a young girl -- a total stranger -- in an empty Parisian apartment. Rather explicit in its sexuality and nudity, it was rated X. It is still shocking.Maria Schneider is Jeanne and she sears her sensuality, vulnerability and innocence into the minds and hearts of viewers then and now. The sex in the film is indulgent but not really shared by the characters. That anonymity triggers a surprising feeling of victimization. Whether intended or not, watching the film is more unsettling than arousing.The "butter scene," a flash-point of conversation, was not even in the script, but something Brando suggested just before filming. Although the sex was simulated, Schneider's tears were real.The world-wide attention to this landmark film brought instant fame and celebrity to young Maria Schneider. It was not welcome. She felt as if raped by Brando, Bertolucci and the audience. "Bertolucci is more of a gangster than a movie director. He's one of my enemies."Not long ago, the late Schneider said that even though she made many films, this is the one people still ask about. A new Blu-ray edition is an Maria Schneider's sad but brilliant epitaph to lost innocence.