True story: I’ve never seen Last Tango in Paris. I haven’t seen many of those “iconic” movies, because I’ll start to watch one for like ten minutes and then I’ll give up. Last Tango was like that – I think I rented it once, many years ago, and I couldn’t even got through the first ten minutes so I gave up. The story, as I understand, is that Marlon Brando plays an American divorcee in Paris, and he begins an affair with a young woman, played by actress Maria Schneider. Schneider was only 19 years old when she filmed the movie, which was directed by Bernardo Bertolucci. The film is famous for its graphic and sometimes violent sex scenes, and there is apparently one sex scene involving… a stick of butter. Well, I say “sex scene.” It was a rape scene. Maria Schneider had always said that she felt raped by Brando and Bertolucci in that scene. And now it seems like Bertolucci once admitted that he conspired with Brando to rape her on screen.
It’s known as one of the most infamous rape scenes in Hollywood history—but Last Tango in Paris director Bernardo Bertolucci admitted in a recently surfaced video that star Maria Schneider never consented to it. Instead, Bertolucci confessed in the 2013 clip that he and Marlon Brando came up with the idea to shoot the assault scene in which Brando’s character uses a stick of butter to rape Schneider on screen. At the time, Brando was 48. Schneider was just 19.
“The sequence of the butter is an idea that I had with Marlon in the morning before shooting,” Bertulocci said in an event held at La Cinémathèque Française in Paris in 2013. He added that he felt horrible “in a way” for his treatment of Schneider but defended himself, explaining that he “wanted her reaction as a girl, not as an actress.”
“I wanted her to react humiliated,” he said. “I think she hated me and also Marlon because we didn’t tell her.” Even so, Bertolucci clarified that he didn’t “regret” how he decided to direct the scene. “To obtain something I think you have to be completely free,” he said. “I didn’t want Maria to act her humiliation her rage, I wanted her to Maria to feel…the rage and humiliation. Then she hated me for all of her life.”
After Last Tango in Paris, Schneider never shot another nude scene. She struggled with drug addiction and depression following the attention the movie brought her. In an exclusive to the Daily Mail in 2007, Schneider wrote that she had felt violated by the experience.
“I felt humiliated and to be honest, I felt a little raped, both by Marlon and by Bertolucci,” she said. “After the scene, Marlon didn’t console me or [apologize]. Thankfully, there was just one take.”
What’s strange is that I remember that there has been a conversation about this for years, because Schneider had always said that her experience on the film was terrible, and that she was mistreated by Brando and Bertolucci. But because Elle published this story about Bertolucci’s 2013 comments (how have these comments never been published before??), there’s suddenly a huge new outcry. Even celebrities are commenting about it now.
To all the people that love this film- you're watching a 19yr old get raped by a 48yr old man. The director planned her attack. I feel sick. https://t.co/qVDom2gYf6
— Jessica Chastain (@jes_chastain) December 3, 2016
Inexcusable. As a director, I can barely fathom this. As a woman, I am horrified, disgusted and enraged by it. https://t.co/voGRhafy9K
— Ava DuVernay (@ava) December 4, 2016
Wow. I will never look at this film, Bertolucci or Brando the same way again. This is beyond disgusting. I feel rage https://t.co/uvaLogvv7I
— Chris Evans (@ChrisEvans) December 3, 2016
Photos courtesy of WENN, MGM.
Well…holy sh*t.
Maria stated that she felt raped for years, nobody gave a s***, a man says it really ocurred, people get outraged. Which points to the fact that a victim word had to be validated by the rapist to have some value.
I agree with you Hannah. Just a woman being too emo until the actual disgusting POS that plotted against her spoke up.
I feel a level of rage I can’t even articulate. How can this f*cker be so casual about confessing to a crime?????? I’m speechless…
“Which points to the fact that a victim word had to be validated by the rapist to have some value.”
Speak. So f*cked up. So true.
And it’s so sad to me that she had to say that she “felt a little raped.” You can just say it. Say that you were raped, because you were. Devastating.
I thought it was because they released a new part of the interview that he did a few years ago and then an article was written about these new remarks and that’s why there’s more widespread outrage now.
I’m disappointed in Brando but based on her other remarks about Brando over the years she seemed to not blame him or really be angry at all with him? So IMO I’m not disgusted with him in the same way I am with the director.
And there seems to be confusion with what actually happened in the scene. Was the sex simulated or not? I know it was traumatizing either way but I’m confused
This.
Hannah, you’re 100% right! The victim word never matters. 😔
I feel like everyone needs to take a bit of a deep breath and re-read the original article included by celebitchy: http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/last-tango-in-paris-maria-schneider-marlon-brando-bertolucci-director-butter-anal-rape-scene-male-a7455166.html
The scene was simulated and no actual penetration took place and she confirms that. So she was not actually anally raped on film, but it was simulated.
I am not excusing the two of these sickos and she definitely suffered from the psychological effects of the simulated scene. I’m just saying she was not actually raped on camera.
Did you read the article you linked to? If you didn’t, you should.
So it wasn’t “rape rape” is what you’re trying to say??? It was sexual assault by coercion. She was only advised of what was about to happen right before the scene was filmed. She said because she was young and naive she didn’t think she could object. She also said the tears she cried in that scene were real.
Still you marginalize what she went through. I’m appalled, quite frankly.
P.S. Rape is never about sex. It’s about power, control and humiliation.
you’re jumping down my throat for trying to clarify some information because it seems many of the posters were not aware that she was not penetrated on camera. I wasnt excusing any of what went down, just clarifying facts. So again, I repeat that you should take a breath.
I posted too soon.
I now understand what happened.
I agree with others that it would be a horrible thing to experience either way. But it was somehow MORE horrifying to me that this actress was saying “I felt kind of raped” if she was actually anally penetrated on film and that scene went on to be shown around the world for decades and the perpetrators lauded for it.
Not sure that the above is all that much better than what actually occurred. But I can see why her language was so confused now that I understand the actual; scenario. What a very violating and confusing scenario for HER at 19
.
I understand you are not defending them and feel like this was a terrible thing for them to do, and your goal in making the statement was to clarify that she was not penetrated on screen. But I really don’t get why we are trying to draw lines in the sand about whether or not it was rape. Rape isn’t limited to penile penetration, and there is a level of egrigiousness to this act which plants it pretty firmly in the camp of “sexual assault” in the name of filming authentic terror. Once you’re in that zone, I don’t see much point in splitting hairs about whether or not it is rape.
The truth matters more than the narrative. Anything else is “post-truth” BS.
If the Last Tango scene involved unexpected intimate touching, that would be sexual assault at best, or rape at worst. The truth is that neither Bertolucci, Brando, or Schneider herself have said that the scene involved intimate touching. The rape was simulated. Schneider said it wasn’t real.
Everyone crying foul when people point out falsehoods being perpetuated on social media are part of the problem. Misrepresenting WHY Schneider felt violated does nothing to stop the mistreatment of performers. The focus should be on what really happened, why it was wrong, and how it relates to ongoing problems today in the creative community.
What are those problems? I can identify at least two. The first problem is the last-minute pressuring of performers to agree to uncomfortable scenes. Obviously any power discrepancy between the director/producer and the performer contributes to the exploitation. The second problem is the treatment of performers as walking/talking props rather than as human beings and creative collaborators. Instead of relying upon Schneider’s acting talent, Bertolucci wanted to make her ACTUALLY feel violated. Bertolucci expressed guilt, but not regret, because he thinks the art is worth it. This attitude plays out on a smaller scale when directors slap their actors to get an emotional response, or when Method actors mistreat their co-stars for the sake of art.
Schneider was right to feel abused. We don’t honor her memory by misrepresenting what happened to her.
I think a clarification is VERY important, especially when the headline reads “conspired to rape”.
They conspired to film the scene in a disrespectful way, and that is horrible. They did not “conspire to rape”, however. No exaggeration is needed in order to find fault in this scenario. I am a little uncomfortable with how this situation is being portrayed by the headline and article above.
Yes, this is why she said she felt “a little raped”: she wasn’t physically raped. There was no actual sexual intercourse, consenting or non-consenting. I think I recall reading about this maybe a decade ago, and feeling sorry for the actress, that she was so traumatized, but I recall the story being told more clearly. It seemed like that the particular scene was sprung on her by surprise, so that she felt, emotionally, violated, and taken completely by surprise. But again—she was NOT actually raped.
Per the articles I read, the stick of butter was used as lubricant. I have a hard time believing there was no contact between the butter and Maria. If one scrolls down to my post down thread where I post the DOJ’s current* definition of rape, it fits.
* the film came out in 1973 and was a French/Italian production. I don’t know where it was filmed… possibly europe so their laws at that time would apply.
Yes, exactly this Amelie, she wasnt technically raped during the time it was filmed but in our time here and now, the new updated definition of rape more likely fits. if the butter was used on her without her consent to the point of her crying real tears from the pain (her own admission) and trauma we saw on screen, then the contact with her privates would have certainly qualified. It is sad that despite recent updates, the distinction of if my dick didn’t go in it ain’t rape is still their only definition of rape. The new definition was needed because of the disparity between repercussions of felony and misdemeanor has wronged so many victims for whom the trauma is severe as clearly exhibited by Maria Schneider here.
Thank you. I have to go throw up now.
Maria Schneider has gone on record that the butter scene was simulated so that’s why she said she felt raped. She also mentioned that she was friends with Brando until his death and that the best part of making the film was working with him. Brando is still pretty creepy though. In the same Daily Mail interview Maria said that Brando once said that he reminded her of Cheyenne (his daughter). Maybe I’m reading too much into it but it does make you wonder about Cheyenne Brando’s allegations again her dad but no one really believed her since she was a schizophrenic.
“I wanted her to Maria to feel…the rage and humiliation. Then she hated me for all of her life.””
What did I just read? He acts as though he did her a f*cking favor and she was being ungrateful. What a piece of sh*t.
Jesus.
This once again confirms that to a lot of men women are subhuman.
Being a POS is not even at subhuman level. I’m not sure a lot of men are entitled to a place on this earth. Look where we are now.
The man actually boasts about it. I have no words. Another triumphal p*ssy grabber.
“I wanted her to Maria to feel…the rage and humiliation.”
No. You wanted to *dominate and destroy* her and you’re using artistic licence to justify a criminal act.
I immediately thought of the p*ssy grabbing remark, too. Leave it 2016 to find yet another way to demonstrate to women that our thoughts, feelings, and bodies don’t matter.
This.
I never liked this film for that specific reason and never liked Brando ever since. Or Bertolucci.
If you do this for a film, how low can you stoop in real life?
I feel like if you can say “I did it for art” with a straight face you can probably say “I knew she wanted it” too.
He cannot comprehend why actually forcing a woman to go through a rape would piss her off.
He hired her to act and instead conspired with Brando to assault her.
Directors and method actors, using ‘art’ to justify abuse since always.
Poor woman. Rest in the peace you were denied in life.
I mean, it was a movie Bernardo. A movie. Make believe. Storytelling. It was never that serious. How morally bankrupt do you have to be to not get that you shouldn’t commit crimes upon actors for your stinking “art”???
I still can’t. I wanna beat the crap outta this dude. I wanna fight Brando’s ghost.
It’s creepier because of the way they explain it too.
Brando’s all, oh I saw some butter and a bagette( haha penis shapes) and then I thought about how much better it would be if I actually raped her.
WTF dude. Who told you your ideas were OK to share with the world? Like neither dude even hasa whisper of conscience telling them they did a bad thing.
She had drug and alcohol abuse issues for the rest of her life. Any thoughts to how defiling her person and filming it to international acclaim may have impacted her mental health?
Honestly, its like 90% of people act complete sociopaths once they get a tiny taste of power.
“I wanted Maria to FEEL the rage”….well, as long as he got a great performance….What a sick, sick f–k!
I saw this yesterday on the Daily Mail and it makes me sick.
Are we surprised though? I don’t think it’s a secret that during that time, with all those “method” actors and “legendary” directors, film sets could be a terrible place for women. I can’t even remember where I read it specifically but I feel like it’s cropped up again and again over the years? I mean you listen to how he justifies it and I don’t even want to know the sh*t that went on on other sets.
It was the same with the writers and poets. The entire Beat generation were a bunch of arsehole misogynists. (But I still love Richard Brautigan, mea culpa).
They were misogynists extraordinaire (remember that whole thing in Dharma Bums how women can only achieving enlightenment through being a vessel for men e.g. sex?) and racist and classist to boot. Yet, without fail every new teenage generation of boys falls in love with them thinking they are oh so cool.
YEP. I was fighting this battle about Kerouac et al in the 1990s at university. But still every generation of boys idolises them!
That’s what I think too. If he can so calmly talk about his decission to rape an actress on set, then what other “brilliant ideas” did he have? He clearly doesn’t think rape is a much of an issue.
It was simulated rape. Schneider was not actually raped although she was certainly traumatized. Not defending the actions they took to film a scene but it wasn’t rape.
That you’d even type that makes me feel infinitely sorry for you, KAI.
Rape or not, it was still sexual assault and should not be waved away with “it could have been worse”.
@samtha i think Kai was just clarifying the story. I’ve read how a few celebs think that Schneider was actually raped (penetrated). She wasn’t. But like Kai said, that doesn’t negate how wrong it was for the director to impose the scene on the young actress and how traumatizing it was for her to film it.
If you define rape as requiring penile penetration then maybe not. It is however clear sexual assault and a violent one at that. And I am sorry to be graphic but I cant bear the idea that there are people who dont understand how brutal that scene was…he most probably digitally penetrated her anally. Anybody who has seen that crapfest scene knows what I mean. Even nuzzling her neck without consent is unconscionable but I need you to understand what she likely lived through.
So if I put a stick of a butter in a male anally it wouldn’t be considered a violation of his body or rape? Seriously Kai.
Thank you KAI.
@Tata
The language barrier is getting to me here with the legal jargon, but I’ll try my best: Many law orders demand carnal penetration for the crime of rape to be consumed. Logically, your description wouldn’t be rape, because you’re a woman. And women can’t rape (in those law orders). But it can still be condemned as sexual assault, and depending on the circumstances the penalty can be just as bad as that of rape.
Kai was just pointing that out. A lot of people consider the separation of rape and sexual assaults to be antiquated, and I agree with that, but I think it’s important that we know about that difference so we don’t sound clueless when complaining about rape (like I did a little bit in my post).
Thanks for the clarification Kai.
I understand the distinction KAI is making. It was not rape. It was sexual assault.
There is a “real” difference ( ask any rape victim) and a legal difference (at least where I am.)
You know you’ve been raped. He knows he’s a rapist. With sexual assault, it’s not that white/black. It’s better and worst at the same time.
It wasn’t a complete secret at the time. I remember Maria either talking about or being described as being completely traumatized by the filming of that scene. Forever after she was tagged as being “unstable” without credence being given to what might have caused it.
The actress has been saying it for years before her death. She didn’t just say that she had a terrible experience, she mentioned the butter scene specifically and said she felt raped on camera. Yet everyone dismissed her words because Brando, Bertollucci………the fact that she succumbed to substance abuse in the following years served to dismiss her words by the peanut gallery.
+1 LAK. Plus she attempted suicide a few times
Yes! I watched Last Tango in my early twenties because I kept hearing it was an ara defining movie. It is a clumsy pointless film to say the least. The actress at least was captivating on screen (I didnt know at the time that it was because she wasnt acting). So once I finished, I remember googling her and reviews of the film. This was at least a decade ago and I did come across her complaints. I think either Marlon or the director was already confirming that they intentionally isolated her, bullied her and tricked her during that awful butter scene.
exactly. the illusions of “art and creating beauty”—this is also why so many fight mainstream movie perceptions of women, even though we are told to get over it. so much of this imagery is rape, simulated rape or contributes to notions of violence against women, women as objects.
horrific and the images should be treated as crimes, not “art” or “entertainment.” her legacy of being called “unstable” while these men are considered geniuses? disgusting. Nate Parker is not the only rapist in this industry—way way too many men are, powerful white men who still get lauded.
+1 I was raised very conservatively and I still am in many respects, but I am a die-hard feminist and this just makes me want to go on attack mode somehow.
Oh my god. Got this on my shelf, it’s been on my to-watch list for a while…now I’m glad I never got round to it. Jesus.
This is horrible. She deserves at least some compensation.
She died years ago of cancer, I believe. Sad this story wasn’t believed while she was alive and telling it.
Has anyone ever read the book When the body says no by a doctor, Gabor mate? It is an interesting look at the ways in which trauma and stress can surface as other illness, like cancer or Lou Gehrig’s disease for example.
It is really interesting case studies of people who have been mistreated or abused, and how it can literally break down their bodies in various ways.
My heart aches for Schneider.
She died in 2011. No one will ever pay for this unfortunately.
She is dead 🙁
She’s dead now, unfortunately.
Sorry to hear of it. But if that monster is truly sorry and remorseful, he should apologise and can still donate a substantial amount to an organisation for abused women.
he’s not remorseful at all
Exactly Kori…thats why I used if.
That leaves me with such a heavy and haunted feeling in my heart.
This story raises its ugly head every few years. I’m glad that this time, it’s finally getting through to people exactly what was done and how wrong it was. Schneider had a breakdown after the film and made suicide attempts.
It’s always ruined Marlon Brando for me. You want to love him for the Native American support and the funding of Black Panther chapters and all that stuff, but the fact is that he and Bertolucci were two powerful men who conspired together to sexually assault a nineteen-year-old actress in the name of art. In a film about masculine trauma, to top it all, as if only male angst counts.
(I think the actual penetration was feigned, however, so perhaps sexual assault is more correct than rape?)
Yes! Yes! Yes!
I haven’t (re)watched a single Brando film since i became aware of this incident which was very painful as he is in some really iconic films.
I watched this particular film more than 15yrs ago because it was on several film-maker must-watch lists, but thank goodness i’ve only seen it once, and hate watched it all the way through.
I’m glad there us plenty of good art that I can enjoy without supporting the sexual assault of a woman.
There are videos of Brando speechifying about civil rights that you could honestly lay down and die for, they’re so good.
It pains me no end that I can’t enjoy them because of this.
I have never been a fan of Brando because of this – he was a misogynist who treated his wives and children badly..
Per Schneider, there was no penetration. However, this NINETEEN year old actor was degraded and traumatized to a degree where it could only be described as rape.
it is still rape. rape with a foreign object does not only mean actual penetration, it includes any nonconsensual contact of sexual nature or intent, however slight. if it is being used on their genitalia (anus included) to forcibly engage someone in a sexual way, it counts
In context of UK law, penetration is required. In same context, what happened here is aggravated sexual assault (aggravated meaning more serious, and aggravated due to the conspiracy).
But I don’t want to quibble over terminology.
Violation is violation.
I really resent the hair splitting language around rape/sex assaults.
And that goes for rape/sex assault victims having to explain away what happened to them in order to terms with the violation.
The firdt principal should always be DO NOT RAPE/SEXUAL ASSAULT.
It shouldn’t be i was raped/sexually assaulted BECAUSE ( insert x reasonsbthat may or may not help the person who attacked you)😤😤😤😤😤
I do and I don’t (resent it).
On the one hand, I’m all for clarity. Clarity means we can educate young men all the better on the boundary being CONSENT and not a particular physical act.
On the other hand, we end up with derailed discussions among women nitpicking semantics, as here, when we should all be united.
A-freaking-men to every word.
I’ve never watched this film precisely because of Maria’s statements about her experience. I’d never read Bertolucci’s quotes on the subject however, and now I feel sick to my stomach. My heart hurts for what Maria went through and if there is such a thing as the afterlife, I hope she’s finally at peace there.
Yes, this was sexual assault. Rape requires penetration orally, vaginally, or anally. It’s all a Google search away, people.
Another horrific story about how Hollywood abuses women. I think is important for actresses to support other actresses who come forward, but it is even more important for men in power to support them. Their silence is deafening.
This is fucking disgusting. A woman had to actually be raped because a director and actor are too damn incompetent to simple fake their way through it which is what ACTING is supposed to be about. Gross. Absolutely gross.
For accuracy: she was not actually raped. She confirmed this years ago. However, they did not tell her how they were doing the scene. She only found out about the scene at all right before filming and didn’t know she could refuse and didn’t know how horrible they had planned to be.
Still awful, still evil. Still traumatizing.
Maybe not rape, but definitely sexually assaulted by two narcissistic, disgusting pigs, that should have been arrested and put in jail! I’ve never liked Brando, he always gave me a “I’m such a big, important star, my shit don’t stink” feeling. And, I think his acting was soooooooo overrated!!!! How many, HOW MANY, women, girls, and boys, in Hollywood have been sexually assaulted over the years, by the big men at the studies??? I think, it is a much, much bigger number than any of us would believe….
she was assaulted sexually with a stick of butter, that is technically rape with a foreign object, which includes nonconsensual contact of a sexual nature/intent, however slight. let’s not minimise her (and others who may face similar situations) trauma by resorting to antiquated ideas of what constitutes rape.
Thanks for the clarification, but as MrsPitt points out, it can still qualify as a sexual assault if she didn’t give consent to shoot a scene like that. And wether there was penetration or not, it’s still disgusting these men would put their “art” above the sexual integrity of this woman.
exactly, that women feel the need to qualify it as not being ‘actual’ rape boggles my mind. this is precisely why so many cases go unreported. the it isnt actually rape when…….. or because….. or if……..
LokiGal – there was no penetration, digitally or with the butter. It was feigned. Like I say above, I don’t want to get hung up on terminology when we are talking about the violation of a woman. But your mind doesn’t need to be boggled. You simply need to google. The point is that she did not know Brando was going to feign penetrating her with the butter.
Yes, can we please stop trying to split hairs over semantics? It is just distracting from the essential fact that this poor girl was assaulted and violated by two men in a position of authority while she was in a vulnerable and highly intimate situation – and it was done without her prior knowledge which gave her no opportunity to consent or object ahead of time. At the end of the day I don’t give a sh*t where the butter did or didn’t go, and it doesn’t really matter. It was still a crime, by whatever name anyone gives it.
She told this story for years, but it only gets attention when a man admits it. F**king typical.
YES, YES, a thousand times YES. She told everyone who would listen. For YEARS.
A woman who claims she was raped is never telling the truth. She only hates men.
And then some people wonder why women do not want to go to the police and report abuse and domestic violence. Our word is meaningless.
Word! This bothers me more than anything. She kept saying it but was never really heard.
well said!
THIS
YEP. Anna Kendrick pointed this out on twitter and how people dismissed her when she discussed this very subject because no one believed her. But now that a man said it (and admitted it) everyone is piling on.
god this is so true. I feel sick.
Exactly! So f-cking enraging.
Yep. It’s just like with Bill Cosby. The stories had been around forever but only when a male comedian brought it back up did people pay attention.
Not that it matters either way but I’m confused. I’ve never seen the movie and now I am never going to, but he actually penetrated her with butter?
He uses butter as lubricant
The butter was to be used as a lubricant in the scene. There was no penetration with anything and this was a simulated rape scene. She wasn’t actually raped although she was traumatized because she didn’t know until just before filming the scene was the plan was and had no time to prepare.
Merriam-Webster defines rape as including unlawful sexual activity. That’s definitely what happened here. I’m begging y’all to stop trying to split hairs. It’s a distinction without a difference and also disrespectful.
This is an updated definition of rape from the DOJ:
“The penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.”
https://www.justice.gov/opa/blog/updated-definition-rape
HORRIBLE! I’ve heard a few stories about directors going too far to get a reaction, but this is by far the worst. How about trusting your actors to f*cking act?
It’s called acting for a reason. We don’t assault people on film to get a realistic reaction.
This is disgusting and sad. They should have known better. And she was just a kid. Never seen this movie and I certainly couldn’t watch it now.
He must still be an idiot. Or he would be too ashamed to talk about this. He should be begging for her forgiveness.
The fact that he’s so comfortable talking about their intentions years later just shows how mysogeny is acceptable if it’s in the pursuit of “art”. I hope Bertolucci gets the blow back he so deserves.
Not this shit today Satan. NOT TODAY. I’m beyond disgusted and disturbed I hope he burns in the worst part of hell
I wonder about liv tyler or eva green now. do they have stories to tell or was it just schneider? i agree though that it’s not a new story, in fact it was the reason why eva green’s mum didn’t want her to take the role in the dreamers.
ETA: also bertolucci is italian, and as an italian i can attest that while you can meet misogynists everywhere, italian men are particularly backwards when it comes to equality.
According to Eva Green’s former French agent,she was sexually harrassed by Michael Pitt during and after The Dreamers’ filming .
Green had an affair with Louis Garrel and Pitt was jealous.At a point,Pitt was that insane that the production had to call Pitt’s agent to control him and Green was ready to call the police
I’ve seen it. It’s a garbage middle-aged male mastubatory fantasy. Garbage.
I’m not a bit surprised. 😡
Exactly this.
I remember I had read and heard, let’s say uncomfortable, things about this movie before I ever saw is, which was something like 20 plus years ago. For many years I avoided it, not even knowing exactly why – and I have seen most of the classics on the standard ‘best of’ lists’ (I had actually seen/rented/bought most them by the time I saw Last Tango). Only when the film was shown on tv one late night did I watch it and I remember that I felt like a voyeur afterwards and like I needed a shower, because it had this strange realism feel to it. And I mostly have no problems with dark, dirty, even extreme films – I am a horror fan, although violence towards women is not my thing – but I can enjoy even odd films because they are (or should be) make believe, not putting people through real pain and terror.
So this film sat wrong with me after the one time I saw it and it was clear it would never make one of *my* lists other than the “that is one film I can do without and please tell me again why is this a classic?”. Because it really is not a very good film, it just had shock value at the time due to the controversial sex scenes. Always felt like a porno that disguises as art to me (don’t get me wrong, there are films that manage to actually do that and be good, but this is not one of them).
Later when Schneider repeatedly told her story I was so glad that I had never been a Brando fan before and absolutely not after I had seen that film. And I never came closer to Bertolucci than seeing bit parts of The Last Emperor and Little Buddha (and I love Keanu, but even he was not enough reason to watch this fully).
The Last Tango totally turned me off of both their works for the rest of my (film fan) life. I especially have no desire to watch any other film by Bertolucci… come to think of this now though, I actually haven’t really watched Brando much ever after Tango and I do not own one film with him (and my shelves are filled with films of all ages). But Bertolucci to me is even worse than Brando, because he was the one who called the shots and for fuck’s sake, this is art and acting – what a lowlife and frankly plain incompetent director do you have to be if you think you can only get your actress to be good at her job by doing this to her? I mean, this goes wayyyy beyond anything happening on film sets in order to get ‘honest’ reactions out of actors sometimes (plus, it is also a difference if you pull minor stunts like a real slap in the face on experienced actors or on a total newcomer – not that what these two did would be acceptable in any way shape or form in any world at anytime).
Schneider’s story was always clearly true; she was traumatised for the rest of her life because these men and co-workers and maybe even sort of father figures misused her and completely betrayed her trust. I always wondered (well, not really, but you know) why her side of the story never did have any ramifications for Bertolucci. Everyone laid the blame at Brando’s door, who was dead by the time she told about it all in interviews. I always felt so sorry for her, because at the end of the day this probably played a huge part of why she had the unhappy life she had.
So even if this will not come to much: Brando is dead and I don’t think anyone will really come after Bertolucci, if at least it will lead to a re-evaluation of this film – I always gag when I see The Last Tango on film lists, so maybe now the odd editor and film critic will just cross it off.
Oh, and suprise surprise: Bertoculli was one of those who signed the appeal to release Polanski during that episode years ago when he was held by Swiss Authorities. I look at that list every now and again and it still pains me to see Tilda Swinton and Michael Mann on there, but I remember thinking, yeah, Bertolucci, right, of course. Fits right in next to the likes of Woody Allen and Harmony Korine.
Oops. Sorry that post got a bit long!
If Londerland still wants to watch a Bertolucci film, try The Conformist. It’s better. I thought Last Tango was an arty mess.
There are no words. I am actually speechless by rage. I am so GLAD I never watched this film or this man’s work. I will no longer watch anything Brando is in (goodbye The Godfather and A Street Car Named Desire).
Marlon Brando was given the benefit of being an ACTOR while Maria Schneider was mistreated as a woman and human being. She was not allowed to be an ACTOR. She was reduced to a thing to humiliate, hurt and abuse.
If this old sick man is still alive I hope he faces the music for what he has done. I hope society at large exiles him into obscurity.
You’re aware that A Streetcar Named Desire features a scene that is unambiguously rape? I guess it’s curious that you’re raging over this film but were fine with that one.
What are you saying? Brando raped Vivian Leigh on the set?
Or are you saying that the script included a rape that the two actors were aware of and rehearsed, then acted out?
Because the Last Tango scene was not in the script. Bertolucci and Brando devised it and TOLD Schneider she was going to do it, then immediately filmed it, capturing her real, terrified, reaction.
Different things entirely.
Duh.
TY, Suze. You saved me an explanation.
Fiction and reality are not the same thing.
I agree, Cee. Everything has changed for me now. This is a heartbreaking, sickening story. And I can’t believe she is dead and can’t be apologised to or compensated in any way. This director should go to jail.
And to huncamunca – depicting rape in a play or movie is TOTALLY and COMPLETELY different from actually raping somebody. How could you even make that comparison? Think first.
“Then she hated me for all of her life.”
Yeah, no sh** dude. This is why its so crappy that there is a statute of limitations on sexual crimes. He should be in jail. Authentic reaction, my ass. Do directors fire real guns on their actors in war movies for “authentic reactions”? No, then you have no excuse.
this is why physical transformation gets you an oscar (and diabetes) but mostly the industry’s respect and recognition, it’s as if acting should impact you in your real life or you are a lousy artist!!!!!
Interesting point. And I LOL’ed at the “and diabetes”!
Jesus that’s so horrifying!
I was reading about this over the weekend and I saw a quote where the director stated that he filmed a full-frontal shot of Marlon Brando in this film but by that point he had begun to identify as Brando/Brando’s character to such a degree that he felt uncomfortable including the shot in the film. He cut it because he said that he felt like HE, not Brando, was the one naked and exposed in the shot. So basically, this disgusting fat pig doesn’t have the balls to get naked himself but has no problem exposing and violating young women against their will. I am abhorred.
This story is old…we just happen to be listening to women more lately. Pity she didn’t live to hear this outrage. I always thought Bertolucci was a hugely overrated director.
I’m glad this surfaced and I’m glad there’s so much outrage. We’ve evolved as a society even compared to, say, five years ago, today this is a huge deal. I don’t care that this is forty years too late, at least it’s not never.
This kind of nihilistic sociopathy is why snuff films exist. Don’t think you’re any better than any of the other violence porn peddlers, Bertolucci.
This is beyond terrible. Angered AND sickened me beyond measure. I only wish she had been able to jujitsu Brando’s face on camera. I’m sick at heart. At least I’ve raised a kind, loving son who would also find this unfathomable. Women’s liberation HAS come a ways, in particular with younger people’s attitudes less bound, but it’s so depressing how far we have to go.
Of course,this act was awful. I agree that it was rape and the dehumanization of Maria Schneider. But it ultimately is about what Louise Penny calls,”the dark places in our mind.” We all have them, but don’t all go there. We know that murderers go there, but I have often wondered about the artistic community and their justification that ‘something’ is done in the name of art.
That’s not what it’s about. I’m sick and tired of people trying to justify violence with these bullsh*t philosophical questions. Bottom line VIOLENCE F*CKS PEOPLE UP. It’s not an “interesting question” or a “problem with the darkness of the human heart” or however you want to romanticize this crap. It is traumatizing, harrowing, and awful, and I for one do not care to try and “understand” the mind of someone who would rape. I just want them dead. Sorry.
My point was not philosophical, but psychological. We all have an “id” or a dark place that should be kept in check.
So its real sexual assault………. even if people argue on whether it was rape. But pay attention to the WHO definition of it. It surely fulfills the definition of assualt very easily, and by most peoples books it is then rape (sexual act with no consent —> rape, people)
and its being sold for all to watch and “enjoy”.
Well, there you have it, men. This is what you do.
Just unbelievable.
Everyone has already expressed the same thoughts I have about this.
My heart breaks for her 😞
I sent this to celebitchy this weekend and I imagine I wasn’t alone. It was so appalling to read his words.
I would love for the Academy to strip this guy of his Oscar and ban him from the Academy. They want to be more inclusive? Great – then go ahead and don’t celebrate guys committing criminals acts in the name of “art.” It’s calling *acting* for a reason.
Horrified..hadn’t heard this story but I’ve also never seen the movie.
Hollywood Outraged!?
Cough, cough
Woody Allen
Cough ,cough
Polansky
🙁 🙁
Wow. She’s an actress-tell her what you want her to do and let her do her job. You want humiliated and ask her to act that way. There is no need to violate someone to film a reaction. They did this because they knew they could. They knew exactly what they were doing and they did not care. For that-I hope he pays. There is no excuse for this.
So everyone else in the movie was allowed to act, but Schneider couldn’t be trusted to have an “authentic” enough response as an actress? F that.
Vile disgusting human being.
This has been known FOR DECADES. I saw this film in high school and hated it because it’s really not my taste and I read about it afterwards and you could easily find all the negative comments Maria Schneider made about it and the infamous butter scene. This is not news. Although why it’s taken 40+ years for people to react to this is beyond me.
A narcissistic pig with delusions of grandeur. Hollywood is full of them. They don’t call it the meat grinder for nothing.
So, he thinks by actually having a girl raped in front of a camera he’s being a good director? WTF is wrong with people? What did I just read?
“The sequence of the butter is an idea that I had with Marlon in the morning before shooting,” Bertulocci said in an event held at La Cinémathèque Française in Paris in 2013.
Just dudes being dudes. Conspiring to traumatize a young woman over breakfast.
Oh, it’s just “locker room talk”.
*throws up*
Terrible movie. Terrible man.
I’ve never seen the film, though I read the synopsis and watched a clip of the movie (not that scene). It really is a male masturbatory fantasy, as one posted wrote above. Middle-aged man has sex with 19-year old after his marriage is over (hey, they even make him a widower so the audience would be more sympathetic to him). In the clip I saw, she was so young in comparison to him, I didn’t find it erotic in the least. Now, knowing this, I have no interest in seeing it whatsoever. It’s completely understandable how at 19 and new to the movie business, she felt she didn’t have any choice but to go through with the scene. I read the article in the Independent, and the way she describes what occurred after, that neither Bertolucci nor Brando said one consoling word to her, must have magnified the shame and humiliation she felt, as if she were the one responsible. And you know the ONLY reason Bertolucci confessed to this in 2013 was because Maria had already passed and he would be facing no consequences…like hey, she’s dead now, I think I can safely say this happened. Cowardly f***** pig.
My heart is broken for Maria. Oh my god.
Horrible. She was violated, no argument. To my knowledge, there was no penetration, but Maria’s shock and fear were real. The entire movie was traumatic for her and impacted her mental health for years afterward.
Brando’s complicity in this changes my view of him… I’m pretty disappointed.
I also don’t understand why it surfaces now : the Bertolucci’s video is on youTube for years.
I saw it a long time ago and I was sick of it, I’m glad it finally came out.
Maria Schneider has been slutshamed for the rest of her career. She always refused to have naked scenes after The last tango, but still, decades after, she was seen as an “easy girl”.
I saw that a lot of people were wondering if it was rape or sexual assault, and according to France’s law (it was filmed in Paris), it’s a sexual assault. Maria Schneider told there was no penetration at all (objects/penis/anything).
Brando and Bertolucci are disgusting, and Bertolucci reacted today saying that the indignation was ridiculous cause there was no penetration.
He signed the Polanski’s petition. As Woody Allen. And a lot of “feminists”.
In the same idea (old pervs assaulting young women), there’s a big scandal about David Hamilton. He killed himself last week, he was accused of rape by a famous french TV presenter, then by multiple women who were models for him when they were around 13 years old. He commited suicide before everything turned billcosbyesque for him.
“To obtain something I think you have to be completely free,” he said.- This right here. I sometimes side-eyed actors/directions/Hollywood people when they say things like this. Conspiring to rape someone on screen is not being free. It’s committing a crime.
I went through my Netflix to see if it was in my queue so I could get rid of it. It wasn’t thankfully.
I’m surprised people are shocked to have learned that Brando was a messed up pig of a man. It wasn’t that long ago… his life was a disaster
Anyway, this is why I said I would not hesitate to punch Casey Aflack or any of these other “tortured artist” types directly in the throat at the first sign of dangerous misconduct. I don’t care how rude this sounds. It is my instinct to stay alive no matter what society thinks. Popular opinion about the way a woman should behave isn’t automatically correct. Eff these guys. Eff rapists pigs, eff putting up with this kind of thing any longer. Punch. Throats. Stay. Alive.