Product: Last Tango in Paris (1973)
Rating: 5.0
My #1 Film Of All Time!
I saw this movie in the '70s, after it first came out. It immediately zoomed to number one on my list. It hasn't budged from that spot whenever I periodically see it again. Marlon Brando is simply incredible and this surpasses all of his other films, which is saying a lot. Director Bernardo Bertolucci let Brando improvise a great deal of the script and Brando fell back upon his own life to do it, including memories that dated back to his life with his own parents. He wound these memories into the fictional life of Paul, who at middle age finds himself in a time of madness following his wife's suicide. Paul attracts a young woman by his very unhingedness and she immediately becomes obsessed with him, both romantically and sexually, while he becomes sexually obsessed with her. There are some brilliant soliloquies in the film, which Brando delivers, the best being the one he delivers sitting beside the open casket of his wife. Brando was in his late '40s when he played Paul. He was paunchy, his hair was thinning, he was crazy and you don't doubt for a moment this woman in her 20s falling madly for him. Yes, it is sexually explicit but you will never mistake this for a porno film as it had to be one of the most serious films ever made about love, sex, death, loss and the human condition. If you've missed it up until now, don't let another day go by without seeing it! Maria Schneider plays the young woman well throughout but was never seen much after this movie. I only wish I could give this grounbreaking film many more stars than Amazon provides since it shouldn't have to share a position with any other film!