Product: Last Tango in Paris (1973)
Rating: 5.0
A Bravura Performance by Brando
Since I don't have a copy of A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, I watched again for the fifth or sixth time this fine film to remember Marlon Brando on the day of his death. Every time I see this movie I'm amazed all over again at how good it is. Brando, nominated for an academy award for best actor for his performance here, is simply stunning. As always he takes over and commands any scene he is in. When the film was first released, most of the media attention was about the extremely naturalistic sex scenes between Brando, who plays a 45-year-old whose wife has just committed suicide, and Maria Schneider, a beautiful 20-year-old beauty about to be married. Then there was all the hoopla about the episode with the stick of butter, the fingernail trimming scene, etc. What many reviewers and critics overlooked-- as I recall it now-- was at its core this movie is not just another movie bordering on soft porn but makes extremely serious and profound statements about life: who of us can really know anyone else, love can be found in very unlikely places, the undercurrent of violence often connected with sex, all the ramifications of sex with a stranger, and what happens when lust turns into love, for instance.While Maria Schneider is certainly no slouch-- and a beauty both naked and clothed-- this film ultimately is Brando's. Kaleidoscopically he goes from the comic to rage to uncontrollable anguish and back again. The story is that he improvised many of his lines, giving his performance a very fresh, natural feel.The film is beautifully filmed and very visual. There are many images repeated-- the overground Metro shots for instance-- and scenes between Brando and Schneider lead into similar frames between Schneider and her young fiancee.This film is directed by another genius, Bernado Bertolucci and is like nothing else Brando did. He certainly gives one of his finest performances here.