Last Tango in Paris

Watch: Last Tango in Paris

NC-17

2/1/19732h 9m

Theatrical Release (US)

~ When you see a love story, it's only a movie. When you feel it with every nerve in your body, it's a masterpiece. ~

Overview:

A recently widowed American begins an anonymous sexual relationship with a young Parisian woman.

Director:

Bernardo Bertolucci

Status:

Released

Language:

Italian

Buget:

$1,250,000.00

Revenue:

$36,182,181.00

Key words:

paris, france
businessman
love
tragedy
relationship
extramarital affair
parisian
clandestine

Cast

Marlon Brando

~ as ~

Paul

Maria Schneider

~ as ~

Jeanne

Maria Michi

~ as ~

Rosa's Mother

Giovanna Galletti

~ as ~

Prostitute

Gitt Magrini

~ as ~

Jeanne's Mother

Catherine Allégret

~ as ~

Catherine

Luce Marquand

~ as ~

Olympia

Marie-Hélène Breillat

~ as ~

Monique

Catherine Breillat

~ as ~

Mouchette

Dan Diament

~ as ~

TV Sound Engineer

View full cast & crew

Reviews (1)

CinemaSerf
Written 11 month(s) ago
6
"Jeanne" (Maria Schneider) is flat-hunting when she encounters the predatory "Paul" (Marlon Brando) in an empty apartment where he proceeds to rape her. It turns out that he has recently lost his wife to suicide and is completely bereft - bewildered and almost feral in his attitude towards this girl. He rents the apartment and she comes back for more - always using the no names no pack drill routine as the sex becomes perfunctorily obsessional for both of them. The question is - can they both remain so dispassionate emotionally as their rendezvous become more intense, more humiliating for her and ultimately completely addictive? She is obedient in every way, and like most things reliably delivered on a plate the sex soon ceases to satiate his desires. He must completely control this young woman. She, meantime, is engaged to the aspiring film director "Tom" (Jean-Pierre Léaud) who remains blissfully oblivious of his fiancée's peccadilloes. In the end, it's going to be "Jeanne" who has to take control of her own life - but which way will she turn? For a film that's essentially about passion, this is an entirely sterile affair with little actual chemistry between the couple as Bertolucci exposes us to endless pointless female nudity, some clumsily choreographed sex and a surfeit of dialogue that doesn't generate steam so much as spray amidst a series of gratuitous nookie that did neither Brando nor the marginally more natural Schneider any favours. If it's supposed to be a penetrative look at the human psyche, or at our animal instincts, or maybe even at our dependencies, then I'm afraid it was all just too plodding, repetitive and undercooked. This just wasn't for me, sorry.