Review of Last Tango in Paris (1972) by Serena B — 28 Jun 2008

Those who only know this film as another controversy in the 70s or maybe have glanced at the infamous Butter Scene on YouTube don't understand just how unbearably sad this movie is, and that it's NOT a movie about sex; it's about people who use it to escape the troubles of their life, of the loss of identity at a time of crisis.

Paul (Brando in his extraordinary and best performance) is an American expatriot grieving his wife's suicide. Jeanne (Maria Schneider) is a young beautiful Parisian engaged to an idealistic filmmaker. Both look at the same spacious, lonely apartment and after minutes of nonsense small talk, suddenly, passionately, have sex. They silently agree to meet there again for a doomed, anonymously sexual relationship, and an odd combination of battle-of-the-sexes/love affair begins.

The sex scenes, still controversial today, are so unique that people seem to either love or hate this movie for all the wrong reasons; some have complained that Bertolucci was too harsh on women, that Paul's actions were misogynist. While the film is undoubtably more interested in Paul than Jeanne, the sex scenes were not slapped on "just because" or because Bertolucci was a chauvinist; they reveal the man's grief and wanting to erase everything, starting with himself. I've always interpreted the butter scene as him trying to deal with his angry confusion against his dead wife. But he is a broken human, as shown in the scene where he visits his dead wife's body. First he calls her vile names, then breaks into sobs. It's the most heartbreaking, emotional performance ever put on film, in one of the most heartbreaking, emotional films ever put on celluloid.