Last Tango in Paris (Bernardo Bertolucci, 1972)

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Michael
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Last Tango in Paris (Bernardo Bertolucci, 1972)

#1 Post by Michael » Thu Oct 20, 2005 12:02 pm

After being tremendously impressed with The Spider's Strategem recently (mainly for Alida Valli's very lush, haunting presence), I decided to check out various Bertolucci works. Last Tango in Paris was one of them and I was totally knocked out by its bitter, piercing beauty. I really love this film a lot..even more than The Spider's Strategem and The Conformist (gasp! apologies to the rabid Conformist fans here). I was 3 or 4 years old when Last Tango was first released but throughout my life, I heard and read so many things about it.. the controversy and all that and I remember my mom once raved about it. When the film opened with a couple of Francis Bacon paintings, I knew I was in for a great treat. What a journey the film took me on. I laughed and cried... a tremendous range of powerful emotions. Last Tango creates a dreamy, surreal amber glow that we get lost in but brilliantly, unexpectedly snap us out of it in the closing scene. What can I say about Marlon Brando? This has to be his best, most personal, most painful performance.. he kept me gripped and disturbed throughout and in the tango finale, he let go (like Galoup in Beau Travail)...a truly great scene.

I really love Last Tango in Paris a lot. Do you think this film still holds up well today?

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Lino
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#2 Post by Lino » Thu Oct 20, 2005 1:10 pm

There was a time in my life in which I was completely and utterly obsessed by this movie and its soundtrack (I would play the CD non-stop ad nauseum).

In fact, it's still one of my all time favorites and everytime I watch it I get different impressions from it as the years go by. Last time I did that, this story revealed itself to me to be not so much about advocating free sex in which identities are not needed but much more about two kind of lost souls that somehow got in the way of one another and connected on a deep level out of a profound need of love and also to get back in touch with the world of the living again.

Their coming together is also due to arguably the film's main theme: Death. She, of her father and he, of her wife. Of course, this being a Bertolucci film, Freudian and Oedipal matters come into the game making the final result much richer in detail and thus open to discussion.

There was a thread earlier this year that I submitted about The Creative Use of Color in Film and I remember to have used this particular film as a perfect example of it: the two predominant colors are Grey and Yellow in their varied variants. Grey is used mostly for exteriors and Storaro then proceeds to show us a very grim and ever cloudy Paris in which people have very few chances of connecting. On the other hand, Yellow is used mostly for interiors and the result is of a much warmer atmosphere, inviting intimacy on every corner of the apartment they decide to rent for their ocasional but sexually powerful encounters.

There is however one other very important color used in this film: Red. If you notice it closely, it appears randomly but always menacingly. First in the form of a turtleneck Brando uses in the film's most famous scene; then later at the proverbial Last Tango in the form of a neck tie, also used by Brando. These small things are present to make a sort of dissonant note on the overall look of the film and also to alert us that something is about to happen.

But all this aside, this is mainly a film about two people that use sex as an escape but also as a last chance to get a grip on themselves, to feel grounded again. It's a cry of help, really. Little did they know that it would end up destroying them.

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franco
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#3 Post by franco » Thu Oct 20, 2005 2:45 pm

I am right in the time of my life in which I am completely obsessed with this film, possibly because I experienced something [emotionally] similar to the film's finale, but...

Spoiler: I am still alive.

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Michael
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#4 Post by Michael » Thu Oct 20, 2005 3:46 pm

Annie Mall, very well done. Thanks for explaining the significance of the colors. I will look more into that next time I watch Last Tango. My partner found the ending contrived.. does anyone think that also? I thought it was perfect. Anyway, Brando's acting seized me nonstop throughout that it left me reeling all night and all today. I couldn't shake that piercing scene of Brando sitting by his mother-in-law's "masterpiece"out of my mind. Very powerful.

How was the film received when it was first released? I wouldn't be surprised if a majority of folks who expected Last Tango as a sex romp starring a major Hollywood star ended up disappointed. Look what happened to Eyes Wide Shut.

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Lino
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#5 Post by Lino » Fri Oct 21, 2005 3:59 am

Well, Last Tango is probably the film with the most notorious and infamous reputation in cinema history due to its very outrageous premise. It was banned I believe for more than 30 years on its native country; I think that some other countries were also not allowed to play it in theaters for it lewd and obscene content (if I'm not mistaken, spanish people that lived near the french border would take bus excursions on weekends just to be able to see it even though they probably wouldn't understand what they were saying...); it was submitted to extensive cuttings throughout the years; Bertolucci went to jail I think in his home country for having created a subversive piece of art; the list goes on and on.

Of course, much like Ingmar Bergman's The Silence, people went to see it for all the wrong reasons and I guess you can still apreciate it on a purely sexual level - Maria Schneider's body is prominently displayed for the duration of the feature. Not to mention that "butter" scene that has been so magnified to the point of people watching Last Tango solely because of that. It's just one of those things that you have to see it because everyone else already has...you know how these things work.

Apart from this, the film also garnered some pretty outstanding reactions from the part of the film critics of the time, most famously from Pauline Kael and her now historical review of the film. Brando was also nominated for an Academy Award for best actor (didn't win) and I guess you can see how groundbreaking a film this really was: marrying highly erotic imagery and themes with also a very aestheticized and stylized way of filmmaking.

One last note: Bertolucci was still in his late twenties (or early thirties, I'm not sure anymore) when he made this very mature film! Truly amazing and a testimony of his sheer talent.

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Lino
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#6 Post by Lino » Fri Oct 21, 2005 9:21 am

I have this sort of theory that this film wouldn't have had the same kind of impact that it eventually did if it didn't star what was perhaps the biggest male actor of that time in it. If it were, say, an italian actor or even a well-known french actor I am positive that the final results wouldn't be so over-whelming.

Just imagine - today's equivalent would be putting Robert de Niro doing some crazy sexual romps on an arty european movie by a young, controversial director. Hmm, come to think of it, that wouldn't do him no harm these days...

BTW, I've lately come to view Monster's Ball as somewhat akin to the themes that are expressed in Last Tango in Paris: two people that come together through way of the sexual act to overcome the recent death of respective loved ones. As a kind of a therapy for each other's mourning. What do you think?

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Michael
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#7 Post by Michael » Fri Oct 21, 2005 9:53 am

Wouldn't it be fascinating if Gaspar Noe did a film starring Robert DeNiro?

I would like to read Pauline Kael's review of Last Tango. Is it available anywhere on the Internet?

Annie Mall, regarding to Monster's Ball I can see what you're aiming at. Even in both films, the parents are presented as selfish and inconsiderate. It's been a long while since I saw Monster's Ball but I have to say that even if the sex is removed from Last Tango, Brando's performance and Storaro's visionary photography alone are so much more powerful and searing than Monster's Ball as a whole.
Last edited by Michael on Fri Oct 21, 2005 11:10 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Lino
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#8 Post by Lino » Fri Oct 21, 2005 10:44 am

Michael wrote:Wouldn't it be fascinating if Gaspar Noe did a film starring Robert DeNiro?

I would like to read Pauline Kael's review of Last Tango. Is it available anywhere on the Internet?
That would be something...scary, I think! But I would definitely go see it, for sure!

About that Kael review, I'm afraid I don't know if it's available somewhere. I once googled for it with no luck.

And I have to agree with you about Brando's performance and Storaro's visionary eye: they are fundamental factors on the film's powerhouse look and feel. But let's not forget Gato Barbieri's music here - it's a work of inspired genius and I love the way Bertolucci punctuates certain scenes of the film with little snippets of music. It works wonders in the way it highlights certain emotions or situations.

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mingus
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#9 Post by mingus » Fri Oct 21, 2005 11:10 am

Milton Moses Ginsberg at a visit in Vienna just compared Rip Thorn's performance in "Coming Apart" with Marlon Brando's in "The Last Tango In Paris". He may be right. Both are great movies in their own right. Although "Coming Apart" is more powerful in its form, at least to me.

Ishmael
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#10 Post by Ishmael » Fri Oct 21, 2005 1:39 pm

Michael wrote:I would like to read Pauline Kael's review of Last Tango. Is it available anywhere on the Internet?
See here, my good man.

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Michael
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#11 Post by Michael » Fri Oct 21, 2005 1:52 pm

Marvelous! Thanks, Ishmael.

kekid
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#12 Post by kekid » Fri Oct 21, 2005 10:38 pm

I understand this is not the section for DVD discussion, but can anyone tell us who owns the rights to this film and can issue a special edition? Does anyone know of any plans for a special edition?

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Andre Jurieu
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#13 Post by Andre Jurieu » Sat Oct 22, 2005 2:52 am

davidhare wrote:I think it was MGM/UA when their Dvds were released through Warner but would now probably be Sony.
Doesn't Warner retain the rights to the MGM/UA titles they acquired previously? Wasn't that what Ted Turner specifically purchased the rights to in the 90s (? maybe it was the 80s?) and part of what he brought to the table in the AOL Time Warner merger? I don't believe the titles revert back to MGM to be part of the Sony acquisition. I could be wrong though, considering at the moment I'm slightly fuzzy as to what Turner purchased way back when ... and also slightly drunk.

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Barmy
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#14 Post by Barmy » Mon Jul 23, 2007 2:39 pm

From the New York Post:

Image
SICK STICK

July 23, 2007 -- MARIA Schneider - who was only 19 when she, Marlon Brando and a stick of butter filmed the world's most infamous sex scene in "Last Tango in Paris" - is still haunted by it to this day. "That scene wasn't in the original script. The truth is it was Marlon who came up with the idea . . . I should have called my agent or had my lawyer come to the set because you can't force someone to do some thing that isn't in the script," Schneider, now 55, tells Lon don's Daily Mail. As they shot it, "I was crying real tears. I felt humiliated and, to be hon est, I felt a little raped . . . Thankfully, there was just one take." She adds: "I never use butter to cook anymore - only olive oil."

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Don Lope de Aguirre
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#15 Post by Don Lope de Aguirre » Mon Jul 23, 2007 2:57 pm

"That scene wasn't in the original script. The truth is it was Marlon who came up with the idea . . . I should have called my agent or had my lawyer come to the set because you can't force someone to do some thing that isn't in the script," Schneider, now 55, tells Lon don's Daily Mail. As they shot it, "I was crying real tears. I felt humiliated and, to be hon est, I felt a little raped . . . Thankfully, there was just one take." She adds: "I never use butter to cook anymore - only olive oil."
Will she never shut up about this? I am seriously beginning to query her sanity. She manages to exploit her own supposed exploitation. :shock:

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Cold Bishop
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#16 Post by Cold Bishop » Mon Jul 23, 2007 4:12 pm

Interesting article on Last Tango I had floating around in my bookmarks.

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Jeff
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#17 Post by Jeff » Mon Jul 23, 2007 4:49 pm

Maria Schneider wrote:I never use butter to cook anymore - only olive oil.
Much better for her heart. I think she owes Messrs. Bertolucci and Brando a big thank you for steering her away from saturated fats.

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tryavna
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#18 Post by tryavna » Mon Jul 23, 2007 5:24 pm

Don Lope de Aguirre wrote:Will she never shut up about this? I am seriously beginning to query her sanity.
Would you be able to hold onto your sanity if Marlon Brando mistook a certain part of your anatomy for an English muffin?

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Don Lope de Aguirre
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#19 Post by Don Lope de Aguirre » Mon Jul 23, 2007 5:38 pm

Would you be able to hold onto your sanity if Marlon Brando mistook a certain part of your anatomy for an English muffin?
English muffin or American Pie? Brando is a bit pale for my liking, but this is another matter!

I remember seeing a documentary on BBC4 (I think) about Last Tango... in which (if memory serves correctly) Schneider accused Bertolucci of asking her to get a boob job for the film, which Bertolucci denied. This accusation seems to me to be beyond all credibility! Her tits are big enough as they are. Any more and Bertolucci may as well have cast Lolo Ferrari! :shock:

She milks this (ok, i need to grow up) for all it worth...and then some!

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#20 Post by David Ehrenstein » Mon Jul 23, 2007 6:44 pm

Look, here she was a very butch lesbian being asked to play a part in which she's topped by one the most flamboyant bisexuals in the history of the cinema.

Talk about "the higher-priced spread"!

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MichaelB
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#21 Post by MichaelB » Tue Jul 24, 2007 3:21 am

davidhare wrote:I even recall the BBFC CUT THE BUTTER SCENE! in 1972
It was a tiny cut (a few seconds max) made to appease the baying mobs calling for the film to be banned and everyone associated with it to be burned at the stake. The footage was quietly restored later on, and since then the film has only ever been shown uncut in Britain.

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MichaelB
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#22 Post by MichaelB » Tue Jul 24, 2007 7:39 am

What would the dairy industry have to complain about? Bertolucci was opening up a whole new market!

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Mr Sausage
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#23 Post by Mr Sausage » Tue Jul 24, 2007 7:20 pm

I'm glad to see we haven't missed all the important issues with this film.

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colinr0380
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#24 Post by colinr0380 » Thu Jul 26, 2007 10:15 am

I can attest to Marlon Brando's 'knob of butter' still being sniggered about when I was at school in the mid 90s! I thought I would add a transcription of the section of the BBC's Empire of the Censors documentary, shown in 1995 and narrated by Richard E. Grant, that dealt with the reception of the film in Britain:

Alexander Walker: The next big sensation was Bertolucci's Last Tango In Paris. Again a very controversial film.

Bernardo Bertolucci: I always thought this is a very romantic film. Then what happened in Italy woke me up. In Italy the move has been banned. I was, and Marlon Brando and the producer, we were condemned to three months in prison with suspension and the negative had to be burned.

Alexander Walker: There were two scenes in particular that aroused a great deal of controversy at the time. In one of which Marlon Brando uses a half-pound of butter to ease his way physically into Maria Schneider. The other sequence was when he asks her to bring a pair of scissors from the bathroom, trim her nails and then *sigh* to some extent humiliate him in much the same way.

FILM CLIP:
Paul: I want you to put your finger up my ass.
Jeanne: Quoi?!

Rosemary Stark, BBFC Examiner 1971-92: For Last Tango one of the tabloids flew a large proportion of their reporters to Paris to see the film before it was released here so they could all write about it before we had even classified it, before the Board had seen it. And that's not helpful. There would be hoardes around the door on some days. Not a very calm mood in which to make studied and considered decisions.

BB: So this is the British censor's report on Last Tango In Paris, January 9th 1973:

"This film is certainly not as pornographic as the pre-showing publicity in the newspapers would have us believe. The buggery sequence is not very explicit but the President suggested reducing the number of overhead shots of Paul (Marlon Brando) lying on top of Jeanne (Maria Schneider).

The sex is treated with great restraint, a little too much in my opinion. Paul seems to accomplish the most strenuous sexual athletics with his trousers on. It is language rather than visuals which seem to be the only real problem."

And in fact they did a very little cut, something like 9, 10 seconds which were acceptable for me in some way because I think they did it in order to do a symbolic gesture that there is still somebody who cares.

AW: Now, the film was shown publicly, it got its certificate. It got very good reviews I think, in the main. And there seemed no grave damage done to the moral fibre of the nation, until about a year later when a retired officer from the Salvation Army used private prosecution under the Obscene Publications Act to initiate a legal action against United Artists who were its distributors and Bernardo Bertolucci as the director.

BBC News, 10th June 1974: Since the films release 18 months ago, more than a million British cinemagoers have seen the film, and presumably they have made up their minds whether it is obscene. Next week it is the turn of an Old Bailey court.

Richard E. Grant: Edward Shackleton was an executive member of the Festival of Light and retired Salvation Army officer. He claimed that the film was a record of obscenities practiced by Marlon Brando and Maria Schneider and was not a fictional event.

Mary Whitehouse: I met Edward Shackleton and I had great respect for him. I was touched really that he was an elderly man and not very strong, but he made himself go to see the film so he would be in a position to see what it was children and people in general were subjected to. After all he was in social circumstances trying to help people and coming across people who had been distressed and concerned about some of the stuff they'd seen.

AW: I was called in by the defence and the comedy of course was that, on the second day when I was still pacing outside the courtroom waiting to be called into the Old Bailey, it was decided that the Obscene Publications Act did not apply to films! With all these highly expensive lawyers no one had checked that, so the case was dismissed.

MW: Until we have an effective obscenity law, all the problems associated with film censorship and the wider aspects of it are going to remain, and people in one way or another are going to suffer because of it.

RS: The Festival of Light were giving us a very hard time and they were crying for more censorship just when the intelligensia and the filmmakers and creative people were asking for less censorship.

The documentary then moves on to discussing The Exorcist.

The documentary was shown as part of the BBC's Forbidden Weekend, and I remember in one of his introductions he did for each of the films shown Alex Cox mentioned the obscenity case against Last Tango In Paris and said that the man who brought the case was later arrested for attacking two au pairs with a knife, which he blamed on sex and violence in films!

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MichaelB
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#25 Post by MichaelB » Sat Jul 28, 2007 7:46 am

As a postscript, it's worth noting that the Obscene Publications Act was extended to films in 1977 - a move that the BBFC strongly supported, as it would effectively make it impossible to prosecute a film with genuine artistic merit. They were justifiably worried about the attempted prosecution of Last Tango, as if it had been successful it would have had seismic implications for the BBFC's authority - as BBFC approval was implicitly supposed to protect the film industry against legal action of this type.

In fact, I don't believe there has ever been a successful prosecution of a BBFC-approved film under the OPA, even since their guidelines were massively liberalised post-2000.

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