Friday 20 November 2020

Last Tango in Paris (Ultimo Tango a Parigi) (1972)

 


Sidste tango i Paris

I recall watching “Last Tango in Paris” many years ago and that at the time I thought it sucked. Over the years the details have faded to the point where I mostly remembered something about Marlon Brando being an ass and a lot of sex. Obviously, I was not really looking forward to go through this again.

When you start this low it is difficult not to be positively surprised. “Last Tango in Paris” is not as bad as that, but I cannot say I was impressed either.

Paul (Marlon Brando) and Jeanne (Maria Schneider) happen to visit the same vacant apartment at the same time and somehow start a sexual relationship. I am still a bit baffled how that actually happened, but the point is that Paul insists they know nothing about each other. There is only sex between them. Pure, objectified sex. She is a (very) pretty young girl and he is a brutish middle aged man who takes her when he wants her.

This apparently was a sexual fantasy of director Bertolucci, and it tastes like such a fantasy. Maria Schneider is delicious, but I wonder who would think the same about the abusive Paul character, even played by Marlon Brando? Obviously, I am lacking some insight here, but my failure to understand this attraction is a real problem when trying to get into the story. The idea is that as long as Jeanne and Paul’s relationship is pure objectification and sexual gratification, it is great and gives them something, but when that illusion breaks and they get to know the person underneath, the relationship is less attractive.

And that is essentially the story.

There are two substories. Jeanne is engaged to Jean-Pierre, an aspiring movie director, and that is also a strange relationship. He is obsessed with making a cinema verité movie with Jeanne and is constantly followed by a film crew. Yet it is his own film he is interested in, not really her. Another objectification.

The other story is about Paul. His wife has committed suicide for unknown reasons. They were running a hotel together and she was having an affair with one of the guests and was apparently open about it. Paul and the other guy even wear the same bathrobe. This story may explain why Paul is a bit unhinged, but little else. I even cannot work out if it is a parallel story or watched in flashback.

I did not remember those subplots and they made me hope that I had underestimated the movie, that there were some deeper layers worth exploring, but tying them up it did not lead much further than that Paul was a miserable character and not that attractive. Not the deepest analysis, I know, but all I really saw was that a sexual fantasy only works as long as it is a sexual fantasy. Reality is far too bland and depressing and ruins the fun. And apparently sexual fantasy includes being raped in the butt by a middle-aged man.

Maybe the premier claim to fame is the explicit sex element. There is a lot of skin at display and it is also obvious that the sexual element is central to the story. I cannot complain of what we see of Maria Schneider, she is a very pretty girl, but if this was supposed to be exciting (and I got a feeling this was the intension) it is failing badly. Maybe I have just grown too old, to me it just looked sad and pathetic. Also, rape is not really my thing.

Maybe “Last Tango is Paris” is not as bad as I expected, but it did by no means win me over. Its mix of sex and existential crisis is often a winning formula or a poor excuse to make pornography, but I was really hoping for something more. Sorry, not a recommendation from me.


10 comments:

  1. I hate this movie.

    Everyone told me that it's "all about the butter scene," but that scene is creepy and awful and rapey.

    I just thought this whole movie was nasty.

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    1. It is a nasty movie and I am just wondering who is getting anything good out of that butter scene.

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  2. Young Brando was gorgeous. In A Streetcar Named Desire he was very appealing. Here though, not at all. And I don't think it is just about age. His character is deeply unpleasant. The only sympathy I had for him was over his grief. But his treatment of Jeanne is truly awful.

    It is annoying how so many "great" films are so often about an older man lusting after a younger woman, and the film seems disinterested, or even hostile to the female character. She is just there to be puzzled over, and chided for being too sexy or not worldly enough. This is possibly the worst offender in that regard, especially when you take into account Maria Schneider's experience behind-the-scenes.

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    1. I just don't understand what it is that should make this movie great. Sure, it tries to break some taboos and dares be provocative, but that just seems infantile. I am pleased to learn I am not the only thinking Brando is awful here and I can only agree that the the trope about older men an young girls is annoying and frankly demeaning on all sides.

      I am happy that you are back commenting. Are you also going to start up blogging again? I do miss your posts and thought you had given up on it.

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    2. Thanks for that! I am aiming to re-start, though I am unbelievably behind. I should do something similar to you and pick a list to follow to give me some focus.

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    3. Not a bad idea. No matter what list you would choose I believe you have done a large chunk of it already.

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  3. I've seen this before and, while I think I might have liked it slightly better than some, I find no reason to subject myself to it again.

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    1. I don't think you are missing much. This explains why I did not find it when I looked though your older posts.

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  4. I have seen Last Tango once a long time ago, and I remember being less than impressed. I do look forward to eventually giving it another watch.

    I may be mistaken, but I think this was the first film where a major Hollywood actor starred in such a purely European film overtly exploring the complex fragile psychology of human sexuality. This contemporary 1972 review from hugely influential critic Pauline Kael captured the impact at the time, and immediately thrust the film into the "classic - must watch" category:

    https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/834-last-tango-in-paris

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    1. That is very likely the case and I can understand why it made such a splash back then. He is not the first Hollywood actor to star in European films by a long shot. Burt Lancaster and Henry Fonda did Italian movies in the sixties and Clint Eastwood became a star in Europe. None of them by losing their cloths though.

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