FILM REVIEW – LAST TANGO IN PARIS.
This
film has a reputation for being a major work of erotica, but if viewed as such
it is likely to disappoint. It is best seen as a dark existentialist essay on
possessiveness and despair, - as such
it works well.
The
film does have some strong sex scenes, notably the infamous butter scene, of
which more shortly, but it is not an erotic film by any means.
Marlon
Brando plays Paul, a middle aged American in Paris, who, unable to come to
terms with the violent suicide of his wife, seeks solitude in a quiet, and
dingy Parisian flat, which serves as his retreat. However, his solitude is
interrupted by the arrival at the apartment of Jeanne, (Maria Schneider), a
young, vivacious, and naïve actress, who has been double booked into the
apartment by the landlady.
After
a while the mismatched pair decide to have an unusual affair, in which they
will avoid sharing their names or details of their lives outside the flat,
where they will indulge in their sexual fantasies and seek release through the
use of each other’s bodies. The
arrangement works well for Paul, but Jeanne is intensely curious about Paul.
She asks questions about his life, tries to manipulate him into revealing his
true nature, and even searches through his pockets. She finds nothing.
Their
sex games border on rape and domination by Paul. He demands that Jeanne brings him some butter as he eats
cheese in the flat on her arrival. He
does not use the butter on the cheese, but as a lubricant for an act of sodomy
upon her. The scene is far from erotic as she is clearly distressed by the
experience. Later, when he sees that a dead rat found in the squalid flat
panics her; Paul torments her with it and even threatens to feed her its rear
quarters.
Paul
seems to lack manners or social etiquette. His eulogy over his deceased wife,
Rose (the only sight we have of her is on her death bed), involves swearing and
ranting at her for not telling him that she was in sufficient despair as to
take her own life. He also beats up her
lover, and humiliates his own Mother publicly for failing him.
Jeanne finds hope of a release from her
self-destructive relationship – an actor she works with loves her. He proposes
to her during a riverboat-filming scene, offering her a lifebelt from the boat
as a symbol of his love. She initially declines his proposal and throws the
lifebelt overboard. The camera shows the lifebelt sink – the very means of
escape and finding hope and safety seems to vanish. However, Jeanne has decided to marry her actor-lover, and plans
to break the news to Paul, but she finds that he has abandoned the flat without
even saying farewell. She invites her fiancée to move into the flat with her, and
though he finds it spacious (it has been depicted as claustrophobic in all the
shots with Schneider & Brando), he also finds it smelly and seedy. He
insists they live elsewhere.
Jeanne
has a possessive and domineering mother of her own, and she sees announcement
of her pending marriage while dressed in her now deceased father’s military
uniform. She also plays with her father’s gun, which the mother has avoided
contact with.
As
Jeanne takes a walk, Paul reappears, dressed well, and being terribly polite.
He has taken a new bedsit room, which he eventually admits to being a fleapit
worse than the previous apartment flat.
He takes Jeanne to a seemingly posh, but rather run-down tango-bar where
dancers are in a strictly controlled competition. He breaks silence and starts
divulging some details of his life,
(though not his name) and admits that he can’t live without Jeanne.
Though both get drunk, Jeanne retains her distance from Paul, but he won’t let
her escape easily. He is now totally out of control. When they are thrown out
of the ballroom for disrupting the dance, and Paul bares his backside at the
female compere who tries to usher him away, he gives chase to Jeanne to make it
clear that he will not let her go. She runs home to her Mother, though she is
out. When Paul busts in and begins to mess with her father’s things, in effect
seeing him as her father figure, Jeanne shoots and kills him. She is looking to camera in despair,
thinking through her story for the police – a story that is mostly true – she
doesn’t know him, or even his name. He just followed her home and tried to rape
her. She tells herself this over and over again, though it is clear that she
isn’t convinced by her own sincerity.
A
strong, bleak story of people imposing their needs and values on others, and
being unable to cope with grief, etc. It is not however, an erotic film,
despite some strong sexual, nude imagery.
Arthur
Chappell.
Arthur Chappell
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