Last Tango In Paris
Uncut, Uncensored Version
He (Brando) is a 45-year old American living in Paris, haunted by his wife's suicide. She is a 20-year old Parisian beauty engaged to a young filmmaker. Though nameless to each other, these tortured souls come together to satisfy their sexual cravings in an apartment as bare as their dark, tragic lives. Caught up in the frenzied beat of a carnal dance they cannot seem to stop, these unlikely lovers take their passion to erotic heights--and depths--beyond anything they could ever have imagined.
Member Reviews
Exposure - RoddyPiper
Brando in this film said that the director Bertolucci wrung out of him a personal exposure that he would never allow again. This film may be his most important performance. The soliloquy he gives next to his dead wife’s coffin is its climax.
When this actor was growing up on a farm, he used to take the greatest possible care to ensure no trace of the farm, of the cow dung and animal matter smells that pervade farm life, was on him at school. Most of his peers lived in urban homes. A little thing on the surface, but in our adolescence our efforts not to be singled out against our wishes, and our need to find a safe place among our peers, are prime. We hide vulnerabilities desperately. Something so common that he might well miss, would not escape the attention of others, and what is more intimate than smell? A reference to this fear finds its place in the final film soliloquy.
Intimate exposure – to himself -- rips though his personality like a scalpel. His self defenses fall away. The intense sexual relationship he has formed with the girl dissolves. What is left for him?
– (my comments Feb 2009)Unforgettable - Alexandra
Many of us remember where we were when important events happened in our lives: the assassinations of the Kennedys and Dr. King and John Lennon, cases in point. Many of us remember the first time we watched "Last Tango in Paris" and the profound effect it had on us at the time. 35 years later the film still has a profound effect, though it's shock value has worn off a little due to what we have grown used to seeing in terms of sexual content. Nonetheless, the shock value persists in terms of raw emotion. This is a film that still leaves one reeling.
Marlon Brando never looked better in his life than he did in this film, not was his acting ever more realistic and variable. The scene over his wife's dead body is spectacular. In comparison, Maria Schneider leaves a lot to be desired but seems to rise to his efforts - there is a true chemistry between them comparable to the affection shown on Brando's face in "Don Juan DeMarco" whenever Johnnie Depp is on screen. Chemistry tells most readily in Marlon Brando (see how unhappy he looks in "Apocalyse Now", for instance).
The screenplay is mostly ad-lib and deeply personal, and in combination with the gorgeous Gato Barbieri music and the cinematography of the spectacular Vittorio Storaro who makes the walls of the hotel look as if they too are washed in blood, this film is not for all viewers, but is indeed still truly unforgettable.beautiful.. moving - Trixnbun
I think that one has to understand the nature of love to understand this movie. The both are tortured souls, both lost in pain and the grips of the emotional turmoil that they are in comes together in the ultimate ecstacy.
So wrong yet so right.. if you enjoy this one you might enjoy Talk to Her. Marlon Brando was amazing in this role. He commanded her as a man yet you could see his mental infancy recovering from his wife's Suicide.
A timeless classic, one that should be given the attention today that it received when being made. There is no way that it could be remade and still have the same effect. The grunginess of the back paris streets. You can see Brando slowly losing his grip.. the Rat Scene was priceless.
Member Reviews
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Exposure - RoddyPiper
Brando in this film said that the director Bertolucci wrung out of him a personal exposure that he would never allow again. This film may be his most important performance. The soliloquy he gives next to his dead wife’s coffin is its climax.
When ...Unforgettable - Alexandra
Many of us remember where we were when important events happened in our lives: the assassinations of the Kennedys and Dr. King and John Lennon, cases in point. Many of us remember the first time we watched "Last Tango in Paris" and the profound effect it had ...beautiful.. moving - Trixnbun
I think that one has to understand the nature of love to understand this movie. The both are tortured souls, both lost in pain and the grips of the emotional turmoil that they are in comes together in the ultimate ecstacy.
So wrong yet so right.. if ...