Where to watch Last Tango in Paris (1972)
Last Tango in Paris is available to stream in GB on MGM+.
A recently widowed American meets a young Parisian woman while viewing an empty apartment. They begin an anonymous sexual relationship governed by strict rules, but grief, desire, control, and the pressures of their lives outside the apartment gradually complicate their arrangement.
Cast: Maria Schneider, Marlon Brando, Maria Michi, Giovanna Galletti, Jean-Pierre Léaud, Gitt Magrini, Catherine Allégret, Luce Marquand, Marie-Hélène Breillat, Catherine Breillat, Catherine Sola, Mauro Marchetti
Stream | GB
Trivia & production notes
- Director Bernardo Bertolucci developed the film from a recurring sexual fantasy about encountering a beautiful stranger and having an intimate encounter without ever learning her identity.
- Marlon Brando received a percentage of the film's gross earnings and was estimated to have earned $3 million from the role.
- Maria Schneider's character was originally written for a male actor in the initial script.
- Bertolucci drew visual inspiration from Irish-born British artist Francis Bacon's paintings for the opening credits sequence.
- Cinematographer Vittorio Storaro transitioned from using azure tones in his previous work with Bertolucci to employing rich oranges and warm hues inspired by Bacon's color palette.
- Marlon Brando regularly refused to memorize his lines and instead had cue cards posted around the set, forcing the director to keep them out of frame during filming.
- During a monologue over his wife's body, Brando's dramatic upward glance was actually him searching for a cue card rather than a spontaneous acting choice.
- Maria Schneider was not informed before filming that butter would be used as a lubricant in a rape scene, learning about it only moments before the cameras rolled.
- Brando refused to speak to Bertolucci for 15 years after production ended, upset over how much of his personal experience the director had extracted from him.
- Bertolucci shot a scene showing Brando's genitals but removed it from the film, later explaining he felt too identified with Brando and would have felt like exposing himself.
Adapted from the Wikipedia article Last Tango in Paris, available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Rewritten for StreamShack; errors are ours — tell us about them.
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