Review of Last Tango in Paris (1972) by Anthony I — 10 Nov 2015

"Go get the butter".

Moral of the story is, people were very easily shocked by things in the 1970's. Everyone brings up the "butter" scene from this movie, but that's only because it was one of the first mainstream movies, outside of hardcore porn, that depicted anal sex on film. So I guess that merits the X-rating it got then? Well, that same year gave us "Deliverance", which included the first man-on-man rape scene ever depicted in a mainstream movie. That got an R-rating. Is this gender bias? I digress.

Last Tango in Paris is a roller-coaster, and an uneasy experience. It dances with the idea that we turn to the dark side when we grieve. Our main character fools around with a young, engaged, Parisian women, in hopes of forgetting about the suicide of his wife and disfunction of his funeral arrangements. The more he torments himself with the thought of his wife's death, the more he becomes a sexual deviant. When he locks himself up in the apartment with his mistress, so many things start to unravel, and he plays with her heart so badly, that by the end of the picture, he chases her down, thinking that he has found new love when she is so disgusted by his behavior, that she ultimately shoots him between the legs.

This is a contemporary tragedy. Pure, unadulterated Bertolucci. This is also Brando at the peak of his career, straight off of the set of The Godfather, and what we get, is one of the most dedicated, heart wrenching performances of all time. He is so broken down, it's painful to watch. It's a hard movie, but it's just really rewarding in the end.