Last Tango in Paris
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| Last Tango in Paris | |
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| Directed by | Bernardo Bertolucci |
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| Produced by | Alberto Grimaldi |
| Written by | Story: Bernardo Bertolucci Screenplay Bernardo Bertolucci Franco Arcalli Additional dialogue: Agnès Varda |
| Starring | Marlon Brando Maria Schneider Jean-Pierre Léaud |
| Music by | Gato Barbieri |
| Cinematography | Vittorio Storaro |
| Editing by | Franco Arcalli Roberto Perpignani |
| Distributed by | United Artists |
| Release date(s) | February 7, 1973 |
| Running time | 136 Min Australia 129 Min USA 127 Min R-Rated USA 129 Min NC-17 Italy 250 Min Director's Cut |
| Language | French English |
| Budget | $1,250,000 (estimated) |
Last Tango in Paris (Italian: Ultimo Tango a Parigi) is a 1973 film directed by Italian Bernardo Bertolucci which tells of an American widower drawn into a sexual relationship with a young, soon-to-be-married Parisian woman. It stars Marlon Brando, Maria Schneider and Jean-Pierre Léaud. The film was given an X rating by the MPAA upon release in the USA. After revisions were made to the MPAA ratings code, it was classified as an NC-17 in 1997. MGM released a censored R-rated cut in 1981. The film has its NC-17 rating for strong nudity, some violence, a scene of rape, and language.
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[edit] Production
The idea grew from Bernardo Bertolucci's sexual fantasies, stating "he once dreamed of seeing a beautiful nameless woman on the street and having sex with her without ever knowing who she was". An alternative, but similar idea was to revolve around a passionate, homosexual relationship. It was scrapped when the French actor for whom the idea was conceived backed out.
The screenplay was by Bernardo Bertolucci, Franco Arcalli and Agnès Varda (additional dialogue) and was novelized by Robert Alley. It was directed by Bertolucci with cinematography by Vittorio Storaro. Agnès Varda based the last scenes on the death of Jim Morrison in Paris the previous year.[citation needed]
The stars were intended to be Dominique Sanda, who developed the idea with Bertolucci, and Jean-Louis Trintignant, but Trintignant refused and, when Brando accepted, Sanda was pregnant and decided not to do it.
The orchestral jazz soundtrack was composed by Gato Barbieri, and arranged and conducted by Oliver Nelson.
[edit] Plot
Crazed with grief after his wife commits suicide, Paul, an American expatriate, roams Paris until, while apartment hunting, he faces Jeanne, an unknown girl across an empty room. Without a word, he has sex with her. Paul stays at the scene. While arranging his wife's funeral, Paul leases the apartment where he is to meet the puzzled girl for frenzied afternoons. "No names here," he tells her, setting the rules of the game. They are to shut out the world outside, forfeit their pasts and identities. Paul degrades Jeanne, leveling her inhibitions with sheer brutality. Paul is soon dissatisfied with possession of her body; he must have her mind. When she rejects his love to enter a comfortable marriage with her dull fiancé, Paul finally confesses: "you dummy, I love you."
[edit] Cast and roles
- Marlon Brando - Paul
- Maria Schneider - Jeanne
- Maria Michi - Rosa's Mother
- Giovanna Galletti - Prostitute
- Gitt Magrini - Jeanne's Mother
- Catherine Allégret - Catherine
- Luce Marquand - Olympia
- Marie-Hélène Breillat - Monique
- Catherine Breillat - Mouchette
- Dan Diament - TV Sound Engineer
- Catherine Sola - TV Script Girl
- Mauro Marchetti - TV Cameraman
- Jean-Pierre Léaud - Tom
- Massimo Girotti - Marcel
- Peter Schommer - TV Assistant Cameraman
- Veronica Lazar - Rosa
- Rachel Kesterber - Christine
- Ramón Mendizábal - Tango Orchestra Leader
- Mimi Pinson - President of Tango Jury
- Darling Légitimus - Concierge
- Gérard Lepennec - Dancer
- Stéphane Koziak - Dancer
- Armand Abplanalp - Prostitute's Client
- Laura Betti - Miss Blandish (scenes deleted)
- Jean-Luc Bideau - Le capitaine de la péniche (scenes deleted)
- Michel Delahaye - Bible Salesman (scenes deleted)
- Gianni Pulone (scenes deleted)
- Franca Sciutto (scenes deleted)
[edit] Music
The music for the film was composed by Gato Barbieri. Some instances of music appearing in the film however are not listed in the credits. For instance in the scene where Jeanne wants to play a record, and asks Paul to take a look at the record player because it does not seem to work: Jeanne: "I've got a surprise for you!" Paul: "That's good. I like surprises. What is it?" Jeanne: "Music. But I don't know how to work it." While getting the player to work Paul gets an electric shock. Paul: "Do you enjoy that?" Then the uncreditted song is played.
[edit] Reception
The film caused a scandal for an anal sex scene featuring the use of butter as a lubricant.[1] [2]
It was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Marlon Brando) and Best Director (Bernardo Bertolucci).
The film had its first public showing in New York on October 14, 1972, and it proved controversial since then. In Italy the movie was released December 15 but one week later police seized all copies on the order of a prosecutor, who defined the movie as "self-serving pornography", and its director was put to trial for "obscenity". Following first degree and appeal trials, the fate of the movie was sealed on January 26, 1976 by the Italian Supreme Court, which sentenced all copies to be destroyed, (some were preserved by the National Film Library). Bertolucci was sentenced to four months in jail (suspended) and deprived of voting rights for five years.
Fifteen years later (in 1987) a new ruling allowed the movie to be released in Italy.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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