marlon brando, Bernardo Bertolucci, last tango in paris, melancholy, erotic, cinema, 1972, paris, italy, france, gato barbieri, jazz, winter, december, cinematic, controversy, Maria Schneider, arthouse Matthew Ward marlon brando, Bernardo Bertolucci, last tango in paris, melancholy, erotic, cinema, 1972, paris, italy, france, gato barbieri, jazz, winter, december, cinematic, controversy, Maria Schneider, arthouse Matthew Ward

LAST TANGO IN PARIS (1972)

Review for Bernardo Bertolucci’s Last Tango in Paris.

 

“There’s nothing left for me, just memories… and the apartment.”

Bernardo Bertolucci’s Last Tango in Paris is as haunting as it is infamous. Set almost entirely within the crumbling walls of a dim Parisian apartment, the film captures the raw connection between two strangers—Paul (Marlon Brando), a grieving widower, and Jeanne (Maria Schneider), a young woman grasping for her own identity. Brando delivers an astonishing performance, almost entirely improvisational, an unfiltered portrayal of rage and grief. Schneider’s presence adds an unsettling innocence to the chaos of their affair.

File Under: Erotic Melancholia | Arthouse | Jazz

The film’s jazz-heavy score by Gato Barbieri sets the tone: smoky, mournful, and tense, perfectly matched to Bertolucci’s unflinching vision of intimacy at its most dangerous. It’s a film about loneliness and release, desire and decay—its themes layered in shadows, whispers, and muted color palettes.

Last Tango  has continued to stir controversy. Its notorious “butter scene” and filming revelations from Schneider point toward exploitation. These conversations are now inseparable from the film’s legacy, complicating its impact while demanding a more critical lens, whilst adding a layer of libertine-ian mystique.

For all its controversy, Last Tango in Paris remains a stark meditation on grief, isolation, and the harmful ways we seek connection when searching for meaning. Bertolucci’s Paris feels frozen in time—disjointed, melancholic, and perfectly suited to winter’s darkest moods.

"Last Tango in Paris", Bernardo Bertolucci. 1972, Italy. Running Time: 126 Minutes. English-French. Available for rent on Amazon Prime Video and streaming on Pluto TV.

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mondaymovie, diva, french film, 1980s, cinema du look, film, cinema, cyberpunk, moped, metro, paris Matthew Ward mondaymovie, diva, french film, 1980s, cinema du look, film, cinema, cyberpunk, moped, metro, paris Matthew Ward

DIVA (1981)

1981 French cyberpunk thriller

File Under: French New Wave Revival, Neon Noir, High Style, Operatic Thriller.

Jean Jacques Beinex delivers a feast for the eyes (and ears) in his first feature length “DIVA”, a genre bending cyberpunk thriller, love story, and testament to the power of music. In “Diva” Beinex explodes conventional narrative structure to pursue a new style of filmmaking that would be coined by French critic Raphael Bassan as “cinema du look”. 

When an opera recording is pirated by an obsessive fan, the forces of the criminal underbelly of Paris are awakened, events are triggered, characters weave through the futuristic industrial wastelands + subways of the city, storylines combine, an epic chase scene ensues, the clash between high and low brow society  forms before our eyes; all moving the visual, thematic and stylistic elements to the fore, further enhanced by a modern remaster of the original 35mm.

"Diva", Jean-Jacques Beineix. 1981, France.
Running Time: 117 Minutes. French.
Available for rent on Apple TV and Amazon Prime Video.

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