Last Tango in Paris Movie Review

Last Tango in Paris raised a lot of eyebrows, but not for its plot. Rated X, there's enough nudity and naughty talk to almost make you forget you're looking at Marlon Brando's sweaty body. Almost.

Unfortunately, this "torrid love affair" between a grieving American (Brando) and a pouty Parisian (Maria Schneider) -- they don't even tell one another their names -- is overlong and overblown. It's Bertolucci, after all, making a film inspired by his creepy desire to bone an anonymous woman he once saw. The story is one of dysfunction and thinly veiled misanthropy; love is left as an afterthought.

Brando is interesting here, as usual, but much of the film is repetitious, as we explore the unspoken past of Brando and present of Schneider. Neither story is terribly compelling, and frankly the sex scenes are tres 1972.

Aka Ultimo tango a Parigi.