Review #923: 'Last Tango in Paris' (1972)

Now immortalised as one of cinema's all-time greatest lines, American expatriate Paul's demand for his one-off lover Jeanne to "go, get the butter," has since defined Last Tango in Paris. It's legacy is not it's quality, but in it's gratuitous sex scenes, which are shocking even by today's standards and were the cause of a huge scandal in its day. The scene in which Marlon Brando's character has rough anal sex with the young, wide-eyed Maria Schneider is all that seems to be discussed about the film, even by people who have yet to see it. It's reputation overshadows what is an occasionally tender, thought-provoking, and admittedly ridiculous film, that strives to depict a different kind of love story, and one that manifests itself through violence, animalistic desire, and sheer loneliness.

Paul and Jeanne are two wandering souls in Paris. Paul runs a flea-pit hotel following the suicide of his wife, who we come to learn was sleeping with another man, seemingly with Paul's approval. Jeanne is on the cusp of marrying an aspiring film director in the Jean-Luc Godard mould, Tom (Jeanne-Piere Leaud), who arrives in Paris to shoot an avant garde piece called Portrait of a Woman. They encounter each other by chance when they both view an apartment up for rent. Their brief meeting results in sex, and afterwards Paul insists that it become a regular meeting place, where the two meet to forget about the world outside and exist solely for each other's pleasure. They are not to even tell each other their name, let alone anything about their family, history or their life in the real world.

Originally intended by director Bernardo Bertolucci to focus on the sexual relationship between two males, Last Tango in Paris is a not a film simply about a dirty old man and his sexually curious mistress, but raises questions about morality, love and death. Paul and Jeanne are two lost souls channelling their worldly problems into sexual pleasure (or perhaps vice versa), but they find it difficult to ignore their emotions as the two begin to slowly learn more about each other. The Brando of 1972 still retained some of his handsomeness (rather than the shadow of his former self he became), and here demands your attention with every improvised line or burst of energy. It's also extremely brooding, intensified by Brando and only intermittently cheered up by the presence of Leaud, and it is long. It's just shy of being a great film, but will no doubt inspire extreme reactions from both ends of the spectrum by anyone who happens to view it.


Directed by: Bernardo Bertolucci
Starring: Marlon Brando, Maria Schneider, Jean-Pierre Léaud, Maria Michi
Country: France/Italy

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie