LAST TANGO IN PARIS

This groundbreaking 1972 film by that Giant of 20th Century cinema, Bernardo Bertolucci, who won a Best Director Oscar nomination for Last Tango in Paris, has been derided as nothing more than pornography and praised as a landmark that legitimized eroticism in modern film. 

One can argue, despite the sex, and there is a lot of it, the film is not about sex but rather suffering, and how we seek sex like a drug to feel good when we are in pain. 

Marlon Brandon’s performance as Paul, a widower tortured by guilt and self doubt in the wake of his wife’s suicide, won him Best Actor Nominations, both Oscar and BAFTA. 

It’s important to recognize the hat Maria Schneider as Jeanne, the young ingenue and object of Paul’s violent sexual lust  has said she was ambushed by the rape scene and not informed until minutes before shooting began. She has stated it angered and humiliated her and that she in fact felt raped by Brando and Bertolucci. 

The abuse of the actor, the inherent misogyny, and predatory practices of Hollywood are as much a part of Bertolucci’s legacy as his remarkable films and should not be ignored.