Last Tango in Paris

After forty-odd years,this film had not diminished in its depiction of the human animal under stress. There is a triangle looking at 'romantic' love and the bestial acts of love making. This is made up of the girl, Jeanne, making a film with boyfriend Tom called 'Portrait of a Girl' and the animal/carnal relationship with the gone-to-seed Paul whose wife has just committed suicide in their bathroom.

The world to Paul is a nothing place,made up of his unsettlement and failure. Therefore he created another,separate world in the apartment in which he and Jeanne met for sex. He insists that they would have no past histories; he wants to live in the here and now. So it was that the opposite poles of 'romance' and basic animal sexuality emerged.

What was interesting about the film was the subtle satire on French 'new wave' film making - the movement of the camera and scenes which depicted the joy of a romantic affair. The music was the signature of French new wave films and it was used well in 'Last Tango..' to underline the unreality of high romantic aspirations as opposed to the bestial carnality in the apartment between Paul and Jeanne. This carnality was largely expressed in good anglo-Saxon English from Paul.

There was an inevitablity about the ending at the tango competition. Paul did the deadliest thing in that he thinks he 'loves' Jeanne in the old fashioned way; he even starts speaking like Noel Coward. The tango has always been a metaphor for desire in its macho movements but romance is not in Paul's psyche but he was prepared to be romantic for Jeanne's benefit. It was a tragic scenario.

Brando and Maria Schneider took on their difficult roles with great conviction as did Leaud as Jeanne's moony fiance who knew nothing about the other side of her triangle. He was making a film which he thought was 'realistic', seen through rose-tinted lenses. He could never make a film about carnality as 'love' had to have a smile on its face to make us all feel good. However, at the end. it is Paul's words and attitudes which prevailed; she does not really walk out into a sunset but down a dark tunnel.

This film was on my rental list cos I missed it when it was at the local fleapit for a week back in the 70's and I remembered there was some controversy surrounding it at the time.

I don't know how some reviewers can say it was 'dull' and 'dated' (either they've never seen Death in Venice or they've been watching too much New-Age Trash!). It was unpredictable and I had to work out what was going on with the storyline at times, but that kept me totally intrigued.

Marlon and Maria were superb and sexy.

I have to admit that I struggled to watch this film. I wanted to watch it as it is hailed as a 'must see' (as the other reviews state), but I just didn't get it at all, and I don't understand the hype. I didn't like Marlon Brando's performance and to be honest thought it was over-rated. I thought the whole film was completely self indulgent in a pseudo-psychological kind of way. There was no real plot, it felt very stilted, the dialogue was ego massaging diatribe. It is on my top 10 list of most disliked films. Perhaps I'm missing something, because plenty of people think this film is a brilliant masterpiece, but I just didn't get that at all. Maybe that's me, I don't know?Completely unbelievable, and I think that it is just too of it's time to still be relevant today.

I had not seen this film for many years and was amazed at how good it was. It is very misunderstood, it is not full of sex scenes and those scenes that are included are not exciting. The film is in fact a quite depressing and negative view of the futility of sexual relationships. It is beautifully photographed, with lots of sepia tones and wonderful views of Paris streets.