View source for Last Tango in Paris

{{short description|1972 film directed by Bernardo Bertolucci}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2015}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = Last Tango in Paris
| image          = LastTango.jpg
| alt            =
| caption        = Theatrical release poster
| director       = [[Bernardo Bertolucci]]
| producer       = [[Alberto Grimaldi]]
| screenplay     = {{Plainlist|
* Bernardo Bertolucci
* [[Franco Arcalli]]
* '''French dialogue:'''
* [[Agnès Varda]]
}}
| story          = Bernardo Bertolucci
| starring       = {{Plainlist|
* [[Marlon Brando]]
* [[Maria Schneider (actress)|Maria Schneider]]
* [[Maria Michi]]
* [[Giovanna Galletti]]
* [[Jean-Pierre Léaud]]
* [[Massimo Girotti]]
}}
| music          = [[Gato Barbieri]]
| cinematography = [[Vittorio Storaro]]
| editing        = Franco Arcalli
| production_companies = {{Plainlist|
* [[Alberto Grimaldi|Produzioni Europee Associati (PEA)]]
* [[United Artists|Les Productions Artistes Associés]]
}}
| distributor    = [[United Artists]]
| released       = {{Film date|df=y|1972|10|14|[[New York Film Festival]]|1972|12|15|France|1972|12|16|Italy}}
| runtime        = 129 minutes
| country        = {{Plainlist|
* Italy
* France
}}
| language       = {{Plainlist|
* English
* French
}}
| budget         = $1 million<ref name="tino">{{cite book|first=Tino |last=Balio |title=United Artists: The Company That Changed the Film Industry |publisher=University of Wisconsin Press |year=1987 |page=288 |isbn=978-0299114404}}</ref>
| gross          = $96 million
}}
'''''Last Tango in Paris''''' ({{langx|it|Ultimo tango a Parigi}}; {{langx|fr|Le Dernier Tango à Paris}}) is a 1972 [[Erotic film|erotic]] [[Drama (film and television)|drama film]] directed by [[Bernardo Bertolucci]]. The film stars [[Marlon Brando]], [[Maria Schneider (actor)|Maria Schneider]] and [[Jean-Pierre Léaud]], and portrays a recently widowed American who begins an anonymous sexual relationship with a young Parisian woman.

The film premiered at the [[New York Film Festival]] on 14 October 1972 and grossed $36 million in its U.S. theatrical release,<ref name=mojo>{{cite web|url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl2287961601/|website=[[Box Office Mojo]]|title=Last Tango in Paris|access-date=31 May 2020}}</ref> making it [[1973 in film#Highest-grossing films|the seventh highest-grossing film of 1973]]. The film's raw portrayal of rape and emotional turmoil led to international controversy and drew various levels of government censorship in different jurisdictions. Upon release in the United States, the [[MPAA]] gave the film an [[X rating]]. United Artists Classics released an [[Motion Picture Association of America film rating system|R-rated]] cut in 1981. In 1997, the original cut of the film was reclassified as [[NC-17]].

== Plot ==
Paul, a middle-aged American hotel owner mourning the suicide of his wife Rosa, meets a young, engaged Parisian woman named Jeanne at an apartment that both are interested in renting. Paul takes the apartment after they begin an anonymous [[sexual relationship]] there. He insists that they not share any personal information, even given names, much to Jeanne's dismay. At one point in their relationship, he rapes her. Despite this, she tells him that she tries to leave him, but can't bring herself to do it. The affair of Paul and Jeanne continues for some time until Paul decides to leave Jeanne, after which she arrives at the apartment and finds that he has packed up and left without warning.

After attending his wife's [[viewing (funeral)|viewing]], Paul meets Jeanne on the street and says he wants to renew the relationship. He tells her of the recent tragedy of his wife. As he tells his life story, they walk into a [[tango (music)|tango]] bar, where he continues telling her about himself. The loss of anonymity disillusions Jeanne about their relationship. She tells Paul she does not want to see him again. Paul, not wanting to let Jeanne go, chases her through the streets of Paris. While running, she continually yells at him to go away and tells him that their relationship is over.  Despite her threats to call the police, he chases her all the way back to her building where she is living with her mother and forces his way into her apartment. He mocks her for running away from him, followed by him saying he loves her and wants to know her name.

Jeanne takes a gun from a drawer. She tells Paul her name and shoots him. Paul staggers out onto the balcony, mortally wounded, and collapses. As Paul dies, Jeanne, dazed, mutters to herself that he was just a stranger who tried to rape her and she did not know who he was, as if in a rehearsal preparing herself for questioning by the police.

== Cast ==
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
* [[Marlon Brando]] as Paul, an American expatriate and hotel owner
* [[Maria Schneider (actress)|Maria Schneider]] as Jeanne, a young Parisian woman
* [[Jean-Pierre Léaud]] as Thomas, a film director and Jeanne's fiancé
* [[Maria Michi]] as Rosa's mother
* [[Massimo Girotti]] as Marcel, Rosa's former lover
* [[Giovanna Galletti]] as the prostitute, an old acquaintance of Rosa
* [[Catherine Allégret]] as Catherine, a maid at Paul and Rosa's hotel
* Gitt Magrini as Jeanne's mother
* Luce Marquand as Olympia, Jeanne's former childhood nurse
* Dan Diament as the TV sound engineer
* Catherine Sola as the script girl
* Mauro Marchetti as the TV cameraman
* Peter Schommer as the TV assistant cameraman
* [[Catherine Breillat]] as Mouchette, a dressmaker
* Marie-Hélène Breillat as Monique, a dressmaker
* [[Darling Légitimus]] as the Concierge
* [[Veronica Lazăr]] as Rosa, Paul's deceased wife
* Armand Abplanalp as the prostitute's client
* Rachel Kesterber as Christine
* Ramón Mendizábal as the Tango orchestra leader
* Mimi Pinson as the President of Tango jury
* Gérard Lepennec as the tall furniture mover
* Stéphane Koziak as the short furniture mover
* Michel Delahaye (''scenes deleted'') as the Bible salesman
* [[Laura Betti]] (''scenes deleted'') as Miss Blandish
* [[Jean-Luc Bideau]] (''scenes deleted'') as the Barge Captain{{sfn|Arcalli|Bertolucci|1972|pp=21–22}}
* Gianni Pulone (''scenes deleted'')
* Franca Sciutto (''scenes deleted'')
{{div col end}}

== Production ==
[[File:Bir-Hakeim-1.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.9|The [[Pont de Bir-Hakeim]] in Paris, where numerous scenes were shot]]
[[Bernardo Bertolucci]] developed the film from his sexual fantasies: "He once dreamed of seeing a beautiful nameless woman on the street and having sex with her without ever knowing who she was."<ref name="Taylor">{{cite news |last=Taylor |first=Sophie |date=4 February 2011 |title=Last Tango in Paris star Maria Schneider dies at 58 |url=https://www.theweek.co.uk/entertainment/8061/last-tango-paris-star-maria-schneider-dies-58 |newspaper=[[The Week]] |access-date=5 January 2014 |archive-date=20 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220071432/http://www.theweek.co.uk/entertainment/8061/last-tango-paris-star-maria-schneider-dies-58 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The screenplay was by Bertolucci, [[Franco Arcalli]], and [[Agnès Varda]] (additional dialogue). It was later adapted as a novel by Robert Alley. The film was directed by Bertolucci with cinematography by [[Vittorio Storaro]].

Bertolucci originally intended to cast [[Dominique Sanda]], who developed the idea with him, and [[Jean-Louis Trintignant]]. Trintignant refused and, when Brando accepted, Sanda was pregnant and decided not to do the film.<ref name="Taylor" /> Brando received a percentage of the gross for the film and was estimated to have earned $3 million.<ref>{{cite magazine |magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |date=January 9, 1974 |title=Brando's $3-Mil Year |page=1|url=https://archive.org/details/sim_variety_1974-01-09_273_9/mode/2up|access-date=December 10, 2023|via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>

[[Maria Schneider (actress)|Maria Schneider]] stated in 2001 that her role in the original script was intended to be played by a boy.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://next.liberation.fr/cinema/2001/03/24/maria-schneider-l-insaisie_358898
|title= Maria Schneider, l'insaisie
|access-date= 22 February 2016
|last= Azoury
|first= Philippe
|date= 24 March 2001
|website= next.liberation.fr
|language= fr}}</ref>

An art lover, Bertolucci drew inspiration from the works of the Irish-born British artist [[Francis Bacon (artist)|Francis Bacon]] for the opening sequence of cast and crew credits.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=A celebration of 500 years of British Art |magazine=Life |publisher=[[The New York Observer]] |date=19 March 2000}}</ref> According to American artist [[Andy Warhol]], ''Last Tango'' was based on Warhol's own ''[[Blue Movie]]'' film released a few years earlier in 1969.<ref name="WS-2002-2005">{{cite web |last=Comenas |first=Gary |title=Blue Movie (1968) |url=https://www.warholstars.org/andy-warhol-blue-movie.html |date=2005 |work=WarholStars.org |access-date=29 December 2015}}</ref>

=== Rape scene ===
The film contains a scene in which Paul [[anal rape|anally rapes]] Jeanne using butter as a lubricant. While the rape is [[Simulation|simulated]], Schneider has said the scene still had a tremendously negative effect on her. In a 2006 interview, Schneider said that the use of butter was not in the script and that "when they told me, I had a burst of anger. Woo! I threw everything. And nobody can force someone to do something not in the script. But I didn't know that. I was too young."<ref name="Downhill Ride">{{cite web |url=https://www.smh.com.au/news/film/downhill-ride-for-maria-after-her-tango-with-brando/2006/06/21/1150845244689.html |title=Downhill ride for Maria after her tango with Brando |newspaper=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]]   |date=22 June 2006 |access-date=4 December 2016}}</ref> In 2007, Schneider recounted feelings of sexual humiliation pertaining to the rape scene:

{{blockquote|They only told me about it before we had to film the scene and I was so angry. I should have called my agent or had my lawyer come to the set because you can't force someone to do something that isn't in the script, but at the time, I didn't know that. Marlon said to me: 'Maria, don't worry, it's just a movie', but during the scene, even though what Marlon was doing wasn't real, I was crying real tears. I felt humiliated and to be honest, I felt a little raped, both by Marlon and by Bertolucci. After the scene, Marlon didn't console me or apologize. Thankfully, there was just one take.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2018/11/26/story-behind-filmmaker-bernardo-bertoluccis-last-public-controversy/|title=The story behind filmmaker Bernardo Bertolucci's last public controversy|newspaper=Washington Post|language=en|access-date=2020-04-01}}</ref>|author=|title=|source=}}
But in the same interview she also joked about it, laughingly, mentioning that her pleasures those days were very simple:

{{blockquote|I like to see friends and go to the market and cook. But I never use butter to cook any more. Only olive oil.<ref>{{Cite magazine|url= https://www.lofficiel.ch/fr/people/fuge-toujours.html|title= fuge-toujours |magazine=L'Officiel|date=November 22, 2018|language=fr|access-date=2020-04-01}}</ref>|author=|title=|source=}}

In 2011, Bertolucci denied that he "stole her youth" (she was 19 at the time of filming), and commented, "The girl wasn't mature enough to understand what was going on."<ref>{{cite web |first=Steve |last=Dollar |url=http://daily.greencine.com/archives/007965.html |title=Interview: Bernardo Bertolucci |website=Green Cine |date=2 January 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110105081412/http://daily.greencine.com/archives/007965.html |archive-date=5 January 2011}}</ref> Schneider remained friends with Brando until his death in 2004, but never made up with Bertolucci.<ref>{{Cite magazine|url= https://www.vox.com/2018/11/26/18112531/bernardo-bertolucci-maria-schneider-last-tango-in-paris.html|title= The disturbing story behind the rape scene in Bernardo Bertolucci's Last Tango in Paris, explained|magazine=Vox|date=November 26, 2018|language=en|access-date=2020-04-01}}</ref> She claimed that Brando and Bertolucci "made a fortune" from the film while she made very little money.<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/richard-brody/in-memoriam-maria-schneider|title=In Memoriam: Maria Schneider|magazine=The New Yorker|date=February 3, 2011|language=en|access-date=2020-04-01}}</ref> She also acknowledged that: 
{{blockquote|"I felt very sad because I was treated like a sex symbol - I wanted to be recognised as an actress and the whole scandal and aftermath of the film turned me a little crazy and I had a breakdown.<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20250402-maria-schneider-how-last-tango-in-pariss-infamous-explicit-scene-undid-its-female-star.html|title='It was really wrong': How Last Tango in Paris's infamous explicit scene undid its female star|magazine=bbc.com|date=April 3, 2025|language=en|access-date=2025-04-04}}</ref>|author=|title=|source=}}

Schneider died in 2011. In February 2013, Bertolucci spoke about the film's effect on Schneider in an interview on the Dutch television show ''[[College Tour]]'', saying that although the rape scene was in the script, the detail of using butter as a lubricant was improvised the day of shooting and Schneider did not know about the use of the butter beforehand. Bertolucci said that "I feel guilty, but I don't regret it."<ref>[https://www.ntr.nl/collegetour/page/detail/790329 "Bernardo Bertolucci"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220150719/http://collegetour.ntr.nl/page/detail/790329 |date=20 December 2016 }}, ''Dutch College Tour'', NTR, 2 February 2013,</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMl4xCGcdfA  |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/RMl4xCGcdfA| archive-date=2021-12-11 |url-status=live|title=Bertolucci over Maria Schneider |publisher=College Tour |date=5 February 2013 |access-date=3 December 2016}}{{cbignore}}</ref> In September 2013, Bertolucci spoke again about the scene at a retrospective at the [[Cinémathèque Française]], claiming that the scene was in the script but the use of butter was not. Bertolucci said that he and Brando "decided not to say anything to Maria to get a more realistic response".<ref name="ansa">{{cite web |url=https://www.ansa.it/web/notizie/rubriche/spettacolo/2013/09/17/Bertolucci-confessione-shock_9312378.html |title=Bertolucci, confessione shock su Ultimo tango |work=ANSA |language=it |date=17 September 2013 |access-date=4 December 2016}}</ref>

In November 2016, a slightly different version of the 2013 ''College Tour'' interview was uploaded to [[YouTube]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=021jNOEVytQ  |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/021jNOEVytQ| archive-date=2021-12-11 |url-status=live|title=Bertolucci sobre Maria Schneider / Bertolucci admits rape scene was non-consensual |date=23 November 2016 |via=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}</ref> by the Spanish non-profit ''El Mundo de Alycia'' on the [[International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women]],<ref name="izadi">{{cite news |first=Elahe |last=Izadi |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2016/12/05/why-the-last-tango-in-paris-rape-scene-is-generating-such-an-outcry-now/ |title=Why the 'Last Tango in Paris' rape scene is generating such an outcry now |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]   |date=5 December 2016 |access-date=5 December 2016}}</ref> accompanied by a statement concluding that the scene "abused [Schneider] psychologically and, who knows if also, physically..."<ref>{{cite web |date=25 November 2016 |title=Bertolucci confiesa la violación de Maria Schneider |url=http://elmundodealycia.org/bertolucci-confiesa-la-violacion-de-maria-schneider/ |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161127111359/http://elmundodealycia.org/bertolucci-confiesa-la-violacion-de-maria-schneider/ |archive-date=27 November 2016 |access-date=5 December 2016 |work=El Mundo de Alycia |language=es}}</ref> This gained attention when ''[[Yahoo! Movies]]'' writer Tom Butler wrote an article about it,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://uk.movies.yahoo.com/bertolucci-admits-infamous-last-tango-butter-rape-scene-was-non-consensual-162300811.html |last=Butler |first=Tim |title=Bertolucci admits infamous Last Tango 'butter' rape scene was non-consensual |work=Yahoo Movies |date=30 November 2016 |access-date=4 December 2016}}</ref> prompting several celebrities to condemn the film and Bertolucci,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://deadline.com/2016/12/last-tango-in-paris-maria-schneider-rape-scene-marlon-brando-bernardo-bertolucci-1201864017/ |last=Lincoln |first=Ross A. |title=Hollywood Reacts With Disgust At 'Last Tango' Rape Scene Revelations |work=Deadline |date=3 December 2016 |access-date=3 December 2016}}</ref> and a number of newspapers picked up on the story, reporting that Bertolucci had confessed to Schneider being raped on set, prompting Bertolucci to release a statement, clarifying that a simulation and not an actual intercourse took place.<ref>{{cite web |first=Nick |last=Vivarelli |url=https://variety.com/2016/film/global/bernardo-bertolucci-responds-to-last-tango-in-paris-backlash-1201933605/ |title=Bernardo Bertolucci Responds to 'Last Tango in Paris' Backlash Over Rape Scene |work=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]  |date=5 December 2016 |access-date=5 December 2016}}</ref><ref name="izadi" />

Bertolucci also shot a scene which showed Brando's genitals, but in 1973 explained, "I had so identified myself with Brando that I cut it out of shame for myself. To show him naked would have been like showing me naked."<ref name="The Hottest Movie">{{cite magazine |first=Charles |last=Michener |title=Tango: The Hottest Movie |magazine=[[Newsweek]]  |location=New York City |date=12 February 1973}}</ref> Schneider declared in an interview that "Marlon said he felt raped and manipulated by it and he was 48. And he was Marlon Brando!"<ref name="The Hottest Movie"/> Like Schneider, Brando confirmed that the sex was simulated.<ref name=izadi/> Brando refused to speak to Bertolucci for 15 years after the production was completed. Bertolucci said:

{{blockquote|I was thinking that it was like a dialogue where he was really answering my questions in a way. When at the end of the movie, when he saw it, I discovered that he realized what we were doing, that he was delivering so much of his own experience. And he was very upset with me, and I told him, "Listen, you are a grown-up. Older than me. Didn't you realize what you were doing?" And he didn't talk to me for years.<ref>{{cite web |first=Brad |last=Balfour |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/brad-balfour/legendary-oscar-winning-b_b_803322.html |title=Legendary Oscar-Winner Bernardo Bertolucci's Career Celebrated at MoMA |website=[[The Huffington Post]]  |date=January 2, 2011 |access-date=July 29, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine|first=Richard|last=Brody|url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-front-row/revisiting-bernardo-bertoluccis-artistic-ambitions-and-abuses-in-last-tango-in-paris|title=Revisiting Bernardo Bertolucci's Artistic Ambitions, and Abuses, in "Last Tango in Paris"|date=30 November 2018|magazine=[[The New Yorker]]}}</ref>}}

=== Francis Bacon influence ===
[[File:FrancisBacon-StudyforPortraitofIsabelRawsthorne.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.9|''Double Portrait of Lucian Freud and Frank Auerbach'' (left side, oil on canvas, 1964)]] [[File:FrancisBacon-PortraitofIsabelRawsthorne.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.9|''Study for a Portrait of Isabel Rawsthorne'' (oil on canvas, 1964)]]
The film's opening credits include two paintings by [[Francis Bacon (artist)|Francis Bacon]]: ''Double Portrait of [[Lucian Freud]] and [[Frank Auerbach]]'' and ''Study for a Portrait of Isabel Rawsthorne''. The hues used in the film were inspired by the paintings of Bacon.{{sfn|Tonetti|1995|p=233}} During pre-production, Bertolucci frequently visited an exhibit of Bacon's paintings at the [[Grand Palais]] in Paris; he said that the light and colour in Bacon's paintings reminded him of Paris in the winter, when

<blockquote>the lights of the stores are on, and there is a very beautiful contrast between the leaden gray of the wintry sky and the warmth of the show windows...the light in the paintings was the major source of inspiration for the style we were looking for.{{sfn|Tonetti|1995|p=126}}</blockquote>

Bacon's painting style often depicted human skin like raw meat and the painter's inspiration included meat hanging in a butcher shops window and human skin diseases.{{sfn|Tonetti|1995|p=126}}

Cinematographer Vittorio Storaro had previously worked with Bertolucci on ''[[The Conformist (film)|The Conformist]]'' and often used an azure hue in the film. Storaro later told a reporter that

<blockquote>after ''The Conformist'' I had a moment of crisis; I was asking myself: what can come after azure?...I did not have the slightest idea that an orange film could be born. We needed another kind of emotion...It was the case of ''Last Tango''.{{sfn|Tonetti|1995|p=126}}</blockquote>

For ''Last Tango in Paris'', Bertolucci and Storaro took inspiration from Bacon's paintings by using "rich oranges, light and cool grays, icy whites, and occasional reds combine[d] with Bertolucci's own tasteful choices of soft browns, blond browns, and delicate whites with bluish and pink shadings".{{sfn|Tonetti|1995|p=127}}

Bertolucci took Marlon Brando to the Bacon exhibit and told Brando that he "wanted him to compare himself with Bacon's human figures because I felt that, like them, Marlon's face and body were characterized by a strange and infernal plasticity. I wanted Paul to be like the figures that obsessively return in Bacon: faces eaten by something coming from the inside."{{sfn|Tonetti|1995|p=126}}

=== Brando's lines ===
As was his practice in previous films, Brando refused to memorize his lines for many of the scenes. Instead, he wrote his lines on [[cue cards]] and posted them around the set, leaving Bertolucci with the problem of keeping them out of the picture frame. During his long monologue over the body of his wife, for example, Brando's dramatic lifting of his eyes upward is not spontaneous dramatic acting but a search for his next cue card.<ref name="SelfPortrait">{{cite magazine |url=https://time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,903717,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070429021823/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,903717,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=29 April 2007 |title=Self-Portrait of an Angel and Monster |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]  |location=New York City |date=22 January 1973 |access-date=29 July 2018|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Brando asked Bertolucci if he could "write lines on Maria's rear end", which the director rejected.<ref name="The Hottest Movie"/>

== Soundtrack ==
{{Infobox album
| name       = Last Tango in Paris
| type       = soundtrack
| artist     = [[Gato Barbieri]]
<!-- Commented out: | cover      = Last Tango in Paris (soundtrack).jpg -->
| caption    = 
| alt        =
| released   = 1973
| recorded   = 20–25 November 1972 <br><small>Rome Italy</small>
| venue      =
| studio     =
| genre      = [[Film score]]
| length     =
| label      = [[United Artists Records|United Artists]]<br><small>UA-LA-045-F</small>
| producer   = [[Alberto Grimaldi]]
| chronology = [[Gato Barbieri]]
| prev_title = [[Under Fire (album)|Under Fire]]
| prev_year  = 1971
| next_title = [[Bolivia (Gato Barbieri album)|Bolivia]]
| next_year  = 1973
}}
{{Music ratings
| rev1 = [[AllMusic]]
| rev1Score = {{rating|5|5}}<ref name="Allmusic"/>
}}
The [[film score]] was composed by [[Gato Barbieri]], arranged and conducted by [[Oliver Nelson]], and the [[soundtrack album]] was released on the [[United Artists Records|United Artists]] label.<ref name="UA discography">{{cite web|last1=Edwards |first1=D. |last2=Eyries |first2=P. |last3=Watts |first3=R. |last4=Neely |first4=T. |last5=Callahan |first5=M. |url=http://www.bsnpubs.com/ua/uaconsolidated.pdf |title=Discography Preview for the United Artists label "LA" Consolidated Series (1972-1981) |access-date= 8 February 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Payne |first=D. |url=http://dougpayne.com/on67-75.htm#LAST%20TANGO%20IN%20PARIS |title=Oliver Nelson discography |access-date=8 February 2016}}</ref> [[AllMusic]]'s [[Richie Unterberger]] noted "Although some of the smoky sax solos get a little uncomfortably close to 1970s fusion cliché, Gato Barbieri's score to Bertolucci's 1972 classic is an overall triumph. Suspenseful jazz, melancholy orchestration, and actual tangos fit the film's air of erotic longing, melancholy despair, and doomed fate".<ref name="Allmusic">{{AllMusic|first=Richie |last=Unterberger |class=album |id=mw0000599359 |title=''Last Tango in Paris'' – Review |access-date=8 February 2016}}</ref> The soundtrack includes "Six Penny Ride" by Trevor Duncan (1924-2005).

=== Track listing ===
''All compositions by Gato Barbieri.''
# "Last Tango in Paris - Tango" – 3:23
# "Jeanne" – 2:34
# "Girl in Black - Tango (Para mi Negra)" – 2:06
# "Last Tango in Paris - Ballad" – 3:43
# "Fake Ophelia" – 2:57
# "Picture in the Rain" – 1:51
# "Return - Tango (La Vuelta)" – 3:04
# "It's Over" – 3:15
# "Goodbye (Un Largo Adios)" – 2:32
# "Why Did She Choose You?" – 3:00
# "Last Tango in Paris - Jazz Waltz" – 5:44

=== Personnel ===
* [[Gato Barbieri]] – [[tenor saxophone]], [[flute]], [[Human voice|vocal]]
* [[Franco D'Andrea]] – [[piano]]
* Franco Goldani, Wolmer Beltrani – [[accordion]]
* [[Jean-François Jenny-Clark]], Giovanni Tommaso – [[double bass|bass]]
* [[:it:Pierino Munari|Pierino Munari]] – [[Drum kit|drums]]
* Afonso Vieira – [[Percussion instrument|percussion]], [[berimbau]]
* Ivanir "Mandrake" do Nascimento – percussion, [[tambourine]]
* Orchestra [[arrangement|arranged]] and [[conducting|conducted]] by [[Oliver Nelson]]

== Reception ==
The film premiered as the closing film at the [[New York Film Festival]] on 14 October 1972, with high demand and enormous public controversy. The film did not have any press screenings due to concerns that the film was being shown against Italian law after the Italian censors had not passed the film. The lack of screenings increased demand for the film with some offering $100 to buy a ticket.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|date=October 11, 1972|page=7|title=N.Y. Fest Theme 'No. 2 For 'Tango'}}</ref>

The film opened in late 1972 in France, where filmgoers stood in two-hour queues for the first month of its run at the seven cinemas where it was screened.<ref name="SelfPortrait"/> It gained unanimous positive reviews in every major French publication.<ref>{{cite news |title='Last Tango' Wins Raves in France |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]  |date=16 December 1972 |page=24}}</ref> To circumvent Spanish state censorship, thousands of Spaniards travelled hundreds of kilometers to reach French cinemas in [[Biarritz]] and [[Perpignan]] where ''Tango'' was playing.<ref>{{cite news |first=Henry |last=Giniger |title=Spaniards Seeing 'Tango' in France |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=16 April 1973 |page=49}}</ref> Following that, it was released in the United States, United Kingdom, and other venues.

The film generated considerable controversy because of its subject and graphic portrayal of sex. Schneider provided frank interviews in the wake of ''Tango''{{'}}s controversy, claiming she had slept with 50 men and 20 women, that she was "[[bisexual]] completely", and that she had used [[heroin]], [[cocaine]], and [[marijuana]]. She also said of Bertolucci, "He's quite clever and more free and very young. Everybody was digging what he was doing, and we were all very close."<ref>{{cite news |first=Judy |last=Klemesrud |author1-link=Judy Lee Klemesrud|title=Maria Says Her 'Tango' Is Not|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=February 4, 1973|accessdate=April 20, 2024|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/02/04/archives/maria-says-her-tango-is-not-movies.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230628231233/https://www.nytimes.com/1973/02/04/archives/maria-says-her-tango-is-not-movies.html|archive-date=June 28, 2023}}</ref>

During the publicity for the film's release, Bertolucci said Schneider developed an "[[Oedipus complex|Oedipal [sic] fixation]] with Brando".<ref name="The Hottest Movie"/> Schneider said Brando sent her flowers after they first met, and "from then on he was like a daddy".<ref name="SelfPortrait"/> In a later interview, Schneider denied this, saying, "Brando tried to be very paternalistic with me, but it really wasn't any father-daughter relationship."<ref name="The Hottest Movie"/> However, in 2007, she said that "for me, he was more like a father figure and I a daughter."<ref>{{Cite news|last=Vincent|first=Alice|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/2016/12/05/butter-brando-bertolucci-schneider-really-happened-last-tango/ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/2016/12/05/butter-brando-bertolucci-schneider-really-happened-last-tango/ |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Butter, Brando, Bertolucci and Schneider: what really happened during Last Tango in Paris's controversial sex scene|date=2016-12-05|work=The Telegraph|access-date=2020-04-01|language=en-GB|issn=0307-1235}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

In Italy, the film was released on 15 December 1972, grossing an unprecedented $100,000 in six days.<ref>{{cite news |last=Gussow |first=Mel |date=2 February 1973 |title=Bertolucci Talks about Sex, Revolution, and 'Last Tango' |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/02/02/archives/bertolucci-talks-about-sex-revolution-and-last-tango-great-personal.html |work=The New York Times |page=20}}</ref> One week later, however, police seized all copies on the order of a prosecutor, who defined the film as "self-serving pornography", and its director was put on trial for "obscenity". Following first degree and appeal trials, the fate of the film was sealed on 26 January 1976 by the [[Supreme Court of Cassation (Italy)|Italian Supreme Court]], which sentenced all copies to be [[Lost film|destroyed]] (though some were preserved by the National Film Library). Bertolucci was served with a four-month suspended sentence in prison and had his civil rights revoked for five years, depriving him of voting rights.<ref name="Stealing Beauty">{{cite news |first=Xan |last=Brooks |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2004/feb/05/features.xanbrooks |title=Stealing Beauty |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |location=London, England |date=5 February 2004 |access-date=29 July 2018}}</ref> It grossed 7 billion lire ($3.9 million) in its initial release in Italy. It was re-released in 1987 where it grossed an additional 5 billion lire ($2.7 million). In 2000, it was listed as the [[List of highest-grossing films in Italy|second-highest grossing Italian film in Italy]] adjusted for inflation.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|date=10 January 2000|page=36|title=Italo B.O. list beautiful for top-ranked Bengini|last=Rooney|first=David}}</ref>

=== Response in United States ===
{{quote box|bgcolor=#CCDDFF|align=right|width=25%|quote=October 14, 1972... should become a landmark in movie history comparable to May 29, 1913—the night ''[[The Rite of Spring|Le Sacre du Printemps]]'' was first performed—in music history...  ''Last Tango in Paris'' has the same kind of hypnotic excitement as the ''Sacre'', the same primitive force, and the same thrusting, jabbing eroticism.  The movie breakthrough has finally come.|source=—[[Pauline Kael]]{{sfn|Arcalli|Bertolucci|1972|p=9}} }}

The film opened February 1, 1973 at the Trans-Lux East in New York City with a $5 ticket price and advance sales of $100,000,<ref name=usopen>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|date=February 7, 1973|page=7|title=Bertolucci Rues $5 Bit on 'Tango'|last=Segers|first=Frank}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|date=February 7, 1973|page=6|title=KO 'Tango' Case In Italy; Leads Director Safe}}</ref> grossing $41,280 in its first week.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|date=February 7, 1973|page=8|title='Tango' At $5, Takes $41,280, First}}</ref> The media frenzy surrounding the film generated intense popular interest as well as moral condemnation, and the film was featured in cover stories in both ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' and ''[[Newsweek]]''<ref name="The Hottest Movie"/> magazines. ''[[Playboy]]'' published a photo spread of Brando and Schneider "cavorting in the nude".<ref name="The Hottest Movie"/> ''Time'' wrote,

{{blockquote|Any moviegoers who are not shocked, titillated, disgusted, fascinated, delighted or angered by this early scene in Bernardo Bertolucci's new movie, ''Last Tango in Paris'', should be patient. There is more to come. Much more.<ref name="SelfPortrait" />}}

The ''[[Village Voice]]'' reported walkouts by board members and "vomiting by well-dressed wives".<ref>{{cite web |first=Geoffrey |last=Macnab |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/last-tango-in-paris-can-it-arouse-the-same-passions-now-454083.html |title=Last Tango in Paris: Can it arouse the same passions now? |work=[[The Independent]]  |location=London, England |date=22 June 2007 |access-date=22 March 2018|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100311220122/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/last-tango-in-paris-can-it-arouse-the-same-passions-now-454083.html |archive-date=11 March 2010}}</ref> Columnist [[William F. Buckley]] and ABC's [[Harry Reasoner]] denounced the film as "pornography disguised as art".<ref name="The Hottest Movie"/>

After local government officials failed to ban the film in [[Montclair, New Jersey]], theatergoers had to push through a mob of 200 outraged residents, who hurled epithets like "perverts" and "homos" at the attendees. Later, a [[bomb threat]] temporarily halted the showing.<ref>{{cite news |first=Walter H. |last=Waggoner |title=Pickets Call 'Tango' Filthy as it Starts its Montclair Run |work=[[The New York Times]] |location=New York City |date=26 April 1973 |page=91}}</ref> The New York City chapter of the [[National Organization for Women]] denounced the film as a tool of "male domination".<ref>{{cite news |first=Laurie |last=Johnston |title='Women's Power' Protests 'Male Domination' of Wall St. |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]  |date=24 August 1973 |page=39}}</ref>

The film's scandal centred mostly on an anal rape scene, featuring Paul's use of butter as a [[Sexual lubricant|lubricant]].<ref>{{cite news |first=Tamara |last=Jenkins |url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/28388/Last-Tango-in-Paris/overview |title=Movies: About Last Tango in Paris |location=New York City | access-date=7 May 2010  |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121031085713/https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/28388/Last-Tango-in-Paris/overview |department=Movies & TV Dept. |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=2012 |archive-date=31 October 2012}}</ref> According to Schneider, the scene was not in the original script, but was Brando's idea.<ref name="Downhill Ride"/> Other critics focused on when the character Paul asks Jeanne to insert her fingers in his anus, then asks her to prove her devotion to him by, among other things, having sex with a pig. [[Vincent Canby]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' described the film's sexual content as the artistic expression of the "era of [[Norman Mailer]] and [[Germaine Greer]]"<ref>{{cite news |first=Vincent |last=Canby |author-link=Vincent Canby |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/02/02/archives/screen-last-tango-in-paris-at-last-the-cast.html |title=Last Tango in Paris |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]  |date=2 February 1973 |access-date=29 July 2018}}</ref> and was upset about the high ticket price.<ref name=usopen/>

Film critic [[Pauline Kael]] endorsed the film,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/834-last-tango-in-paris|title=Last Tango in Paris|first=Pauline|last=Kael|authorlink=Pauline Kael|website=The Criterion Collection}}</ref> writing that "''Tango'' has altered the face of an art form. This is a movie people will be arguing about for as long as there are movies."<ref name="SelfPortrait"/> She called it "the most powerfully erotic movie ever made, and it may turn out to be the most liberating movie ever made."{{sfn|Arcalli|Bertolucci|1972|p=10}} [[United Artists]] reprinted the whole of Kael's rave as a double-page advertisement in the Sunday ''New York Times''. Kael's review of ''Last Tango in Paris'' is regarded as the most influential piece of her career.<ref>{{cite news |first=Louis |last=Menand |url=https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1995/03/23/finding-it-at-the-movies/ |title=Finding It at the Movies |newspaper=[[The New York Review of Books]] |date=23 March 1995 |access-date=22 March 2018}}</ref>

Many feminist film critics disliked the film. In a 1974 review in ''[[Jump Cut (journal)|Jump Cut]]'', [[E. Ann Kaplan]] criticized it for featuring "a one-sided relationship seen mostly through Paul's eyes."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kaplan |first1=E. Ann |title=Importance and Ultimate Failure of Last Tango in Paris |journal=[[Jump Cut (journal)|Jump Cut]] |date=1974 |volume=4 }}</ref> In ''[[Women and Their Sexuality in the New Film]],'' (1974) one of the first explicitly feminist books on film, [[Joan Mellen]] complains about a similar issue, that Jeanne constantly gives way to Paul, "the man who is made more interesting in every way."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mellen |first1=Joan |author-link1=Joan Mellen|title=Women and Their Sexuality in the New Film |date=1974 |publisher=Horizon Press |location=New York City|isbn=978-0818007057 |page=49 |edition=1 }}</ref> However, a few did enjoy it, such as [[Molly Haskell]], who responded to feminist criticism in ''[[From Reverence to Rape|From Reverence to Rape: The Treatment of Women in the Movies]]'' (1974) by noting that women more than men seemed to respond to the film, and that female sexual fantasies can include "rape, sadism, submission, liberation, and anonymous sex."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Haskell |first1=Molly |title=From Reverence to Rape: The Treatment of Women in the Movies |date=1974 |publisher=New English Library |isbn=0-226-31885-0 |page=32}}</ref>

The American critic [[Roger Ebert]] repeatedly described Kael's review as "the most famous movie review ever published", and he added the film to his "Great Movies" collection.<ref>{{cite news |first=Roger |last=Ebert |author-link=Roger Ebert |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-last-tango-in-paris-1972 |title=Intimate strangers in the night |newspaper=[[Chicago Sun-Times]]  |location=Chicago, Illinois |date=15 August 2004 |access-date=22 March 2018 |via=rogerebert.com}}</ref> American director [[Robert Altman]] expressed unqualified praise: "I walked out of the screening and said to myself, 'How dare I make another film?' My personal and artistic life will never be the same."<ref name="The Hottest Movie" />

Review aggregation website [[Rotten Tomatoes]] retrospectively collected 44 reviews and gave the film an approval rating of 82%, with an average rating of 7.8/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Naturalistic but evocative, ''Last Tango in Paris'' is a vivid exploration of pain, love, and sex featuring a typically towering Marlon Brando performance."<ref>{{cite web |title=Last Tango in Paris (1972) |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/last_tango_in_paris/ |work=[[Rotten Tomatoes]] |publisher=[[Fandango Media]] |access-date= 18 April 2024}}</ref> {{Metacritic film prose|77|6|access-date=21 December 2024}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=Last Tango in Paris critic reviews |url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/last-tango-in-paris/critic-reviews/ |access-date=2024-12-21 |website=www.metacritic.com |language=en}}</ref>

In 2004, director [[Martin Scorsese]] compared this "towering Brando performance" to the actor's turn as Terry Malloy in ''[[On the Waterfront]]'' (1954) and noted that "[w]hen you watch his work in ... ''Last Tango in Paris'', you're watching the purest poetry imaginable, in dynamic motion".<ref>{{cite web|agency=[[Associated Press]] |title=Marlon Brando redefined acting |url=https://www.today.com/popculture/marlon-brando-redefined-acting-wbna5354214 |access-date=July 20, 2020 |work=Official website of The Today Show |date=July 3, 2004}}</ref>

[[Ethan Hawke]] considered Brando's work a seminal moment in the movement of performance. Praising both the star and the director of the film, Hawke told [[Richard Linklater]] and [[Louis Black]] that, "Brando upped [''On the Waterfront''] with ''Last Tango''."<ref>{{cite web|first=Louis |last=Black |author-link=Louis Black |title=Page Two: 'I Got Vision, and the Rest of the World Wears Bifocals' |url=https://www.austinchronicle.com/columns/2016-03-04/page-two-i-got-vision-and-the-rest-of-the-world-wears-bifocals/ |url-access= |access-date=March 23, 2021 |work=The Austin Chronicle |date=March 4, 2016}}</ref> [[Pauline Kael]], in her aforementioned review, had echoed the same sentiments by saying, "On the screen Brando is our genius as [[Norman Mailer|[Norman] Mailer]] is our genius in literature … Paul feels so 'real' and the character is brought so close that a new dimension in screen acting has been reached."

[[Richard Brody]] of ''[[The New Yorker]]'' praised the personal nature of Brando's role, commenting in his review of ''[[Listen to Me Marlon]]'' (2015) that, <blockquote>"When Brando said what he himself had to say, it was indeed of a unique value. That's why the best of Brando is when he's closest to himself, as in ... Bernardo Bertolucci's ''Last Tango in Paris'', from 1972. It isn't only his words that are better than those of the screenwriters; his persona, his character, is greater than those that are scripted."<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Richard |last=Brody |author-link=Richard Brody |title=Just Let Marlon Brando Talk |url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/richard-brody/just-let-marlon-brando-talk |url-access=limited |access-date=July 15, 2020 |magazine=The New Yorker |date=July 30, 2015}}</ref></blockquote> In 2019, actor [[Brad Pitt]] said the film from the past he'd most like to have starred in is ''Last Tango in Paris'', "Brando. That one hurts."<ref>{{cite web|first=Jacob |last=Stolworthy |title=Brad Pitt says he wants to be 'spliced into' infamous 1970s film Last Tango in Paris |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/brad-pitt-margot-robbie-last-tango-in-paris-rape-controversy-once-upon-time-hollywood-tarantino-a9048996.html |access-date=August 26, 2020 |work=The Independent |date=August 9, 2019}}</ref> ''[[Premiere (magazine)|Premiere]]'' had named Brando's performance the 27th-greatest film performance of all time in April 2006.<ref>{{cite news|title=100 Greatest Movie Performances of All Time by Premiere Magazine § Part 3 |url=https://www.filmsite.org/100greatperformances3.html |access-date=March 23, 2021 |website=[[Filmsite.org]] }}</ref>

The film was given a nationwide release on February 7, 1973, and grossed $36 million in the United States and Canada,<ref name=mojo/> [[1973 in film#Highest-grossing films|the seventh highest-grossing film of 1973]].

=== Other international responses ===
[[British Board of Film Classification|British censors]] reduced the duration of the [[sodomy]] sequence before permitting the film to be released in the United Kingdom,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sbbfc.co.uk/CaseStudies/Last_Tango_in_Paris |title=Case Study: ''Last Tango in Paris'' |website=Students' British Board of Film Classification page |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091211065556/http://www.sbbfc.co.uk/CaseStudies/Last_Tango_in_Paris |archive-date=11 December 2009}}</ref> though it is not cut in later releases. [[Mary Whitehouse]], a Christian morality campaigner, expressed outrage that the film had been certified "X" rather than banned outright, and Labour MP [[Maurice Edelman]] denounced the classification as "a licence to degrade".<ref>{{cite news|first=Geoffrey|last=Macnab|date=22 June 2007|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/last-tango-in-paris-can-it-arouse-the-same-passions-now-454083.html|title=Last Tango in Paris: Can it Arouse the Same Passions Now?|newspaper=[[The Independent]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091230060928/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/last-tango-in-paris-can-it-arouse-the-same-passions-now-454083.html|archive-date=30 December 2009}}</ref>

The film was censored in Spain during the [[Franquismo|Franco regime]] and was not released until December 1977.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Giniger |first=Henry |date=1973-04-16 |title=SPANIARDS SEEING ‘TANGO’ IN FRANCE (Published 1973) |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/04/16/archives/spaniards-seeing-tango-in-france-take-250mile-trips-to-see-film.html |access-date=2025-10-22 |work=The New York Times |pages=49 |language=en}}</ref> [[Chile]] banned the film entirely for nearly thirty years under its military government,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/13/world/after-banning-1092-movies-chile-relaxes-its-censorship.html |title=After Banning 1,092 Movies, Chile Relaxes Its Censorship |date=13 December 2002 |work=The New York Times}}</ref> and the film was similarly suppressed in [[Portugal]], until the [[Carnation Revolution]] in 1974, when its première became an example of the freedom democracy allows.<ref name="tonight ggs">{{cite news |url= https://www.iol.co.za/entertainment/movies/gratuitous-gore-and-sex-971425 |title=Gratuitous Gore and Sex |last=Davis |first=Laura |date=17 August 2009 |work=Tonight |publisher=Tonight & Independent Online |access-date=2010-03-19 |location=New Zealand}}</ref>  The same happened in [[Brazil]] during the period of [[Military dictatorship in Brazil|military dictatorship]] when the film was censored, until it was finally released in 1979.<ref>{{cite web |title=Após 7 anos proibido, censura liberou 'Último Tango em Paris' |url=http://m.acervo.estadao.com.br/noticias/acervo,apos-7-anos-proibido-censura-liberou-ultimo-tango-em-paris-em-1979,70003076480,0.htm |website=Estadão |access-date=11 January 2021 |language=pt-BR}}</ref>  Other countries that banned it include [[Argentina]],<ref name="google1969">{{cite book|date=2015-05-22|title=Censorship: A World Encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gDqsCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA807|access-date=2016-01-11|page=807|isbn=9781136798641|last1=Jones|first1=Derek|publisher=Routledge }}</ref> [[South Korea]],<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/movies/article/916135--bertolucci-revisited-another-tango-with-the-master-of-taboo |title=Bertolucci revisited: Another tango with the master of taboo |date=5 January 2011 |work=thestar.com |location=Toronto |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023080923/https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/movies/article/916135--bertolucci-revisited-another-tango-with-the-master-of-taboo |archive-date=2012-10-23}}</ref> [[Singapore]],<ref name="tonight ggs" /><ref>{{cite web |title=The Exorcist on Film Classification Database |url=https://app.imda.gov.sg/Classification/Search/Film/SearchDetail.aspx?sType=Feature&sRowID=AAAH4UAAPAAAA7qAAc |website=Info-communications Media Development Authority |access-date=20 March 2017 |archive-date=21 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170321082006/https://app.imda.gov.sg/Classification/Search/Film/SearchDetail.aspx?sType=Feature&sRowID=AAAH4UAAPAAAA7qAAc |url-status=dead }}</ref> and [[Venezuela]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=27 November 2018|title=Bernardo Bertolucci, cronista de la soledad del hombre moderno|url=https://www.eluniversal.com/entretenimiento/26784/bernardo-bertolucci-cronista-de-la-soledad-del-hombre-moderno|access-date=24 March 2020|website=[[El Universal (Caracas)|El Universal]]|language=es}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Forero|first=Ana|date=22 February 2015|title=A la sombra de las sombras de Grey - César Miguel Rondón|url=https://www.cesarmiguelrondon.com/intereses/tambien-sucede/las-sombra-de-las-sombras-de-grey/|access-date=24 March 2020|website=César Miguel Rondon|language=es}}</ref>

In Australia, the film was released uncut with an R certificate by the [[Australian Classification Board]] on 1 February 1973. It received a VHS release by [[Warner Home Video]] with the same classification on 1 January 1987, forbidding sale or hire to anyone under the age of 18.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.classification.gov.au/Pages/View.aspx?sid=70tr0BFXkCqqhXJPRdSvUw%253d%253d&ncdctx=8JO1XlJQbIesPMapwiKVoO6RrlFeDeonhKVG5hjSB7Bh70Z4AqbI7%252fgXOBFryVW%2bSIcKn96R9MBIj1WNylQ6YQ%253d%253d |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140223152744/http://www.classification.gov.au/Pages/View.aspx?sid=70tr0BFXkCqqhXJPRdSvUw%253d%253d&ncdctx=8JO1XlJQbIesPMapwiKVoO6RrlFeDeonhKVG5hjSB7Bh70Z4AqbI7%252fgXOBFryVW%2bSIcKn96R9MBIj1WNylQ6YQ%253d%253d |url-status=dead |archive-date=23 February 2014 |title=View Title: Last Tango in Paris |work=Australian Classification Board|access-date=16 February 2014}}</ref>

In Canada, the film was banned by the [[Alcohol and Gaming Authority|Nova Scotia Board of Censors]], leading to the landmark 1978 [[Supreme Court of Canada]] split decision in ''[[Nova Scotia (Board of Censors) v McNeil]]'', which upheld the provinces' right to censor films.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://scc.lexum.org/cgi/sccOldPaths.pl?/en/1978/1978scr2-662/1978scr2-662.html |title=Supreme Court of Canada – Decisions |publisher=Scc.lexum.org |access-date=20 October 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120614035532/http://scc.lexum.org/en/1978/1978scr2-662/1978scr2-662.html |archive-date=14 June 2012 |df=dmy-all}}</ref>

=== Legacy ===
''[[Being Maria]]'', a film based on Maria Schneider's experiences working on ''Last Tango in Paris'', was released in 2024, having its premiere at the [[2024 Cannes Film Festival|77th Cannes Film Festival]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Croll |first=Ben |date=2024-01-15 |title='Being Maria': Anamaria Vartolomei and Matt Dillon on 'Challenge' of Embodying Maria Schneider and Marlon Brando in Upcoming Biopic (EXCLUSIVE) |url=https://variety.com/2024/film/global/matt-dillon-anamaria-vartolomei-being-maria-maria-schneider-marlon-brando-biopic-1235869203/ |access-date=2025-01-09 |website=Variety |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=mraultpauillac |date=2024-05-08 |title=The Screenings Guide of the 77th Festival de Cannes |url=https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/2024/the-screenings-guide-of-the-77th-festival-de-cannes/ |access-date=2025-01-09 |website=Festival de Cannes |language=en-US}}</ref> The film was directed by [[Jessica Palud]] and adapted from [[Vanessa Schneider]]'s 2018 memoir ''My Cousin Maria Schneider''.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-06-01 |title=Jessica Palud's Being Maria is currently rolling |url=https://cineuropa.org/en/newsdetail/443234/ |access-date=2025-01-09 |website=Cineuropa - the best of european cinema |language=en}}</ref>

Also released in 2024, the biopic ''[[Waltzing with Brando]]'' depicts the period between 1969 and 1974 in which Brando was preparing to star in ''[[The Godfather]]'' and ''Last Tango in Paris''.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Clarke |first=Stewart |date=2019-01-11 |title=Billy Zane to Play Marlon Brando in Indie Movie 'Waltzing With Brando' (EXCLUSIVE) |url=https://variety.com/2019/film/news/billy-zane-as-marlon-brando-in-waltzing-with-brando-1203105744/ |access-date=2025-02-03 |website=Variety |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Paul |first=Larisha |date=2024-11-05 |title=Billy Zane's Marlon Brando Trades Hollywood for Tahiti in 'Waltzing With Brando' Trailer |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-news/waltzing-with-brando-trailer-billy-zane-1235154137/ |access-date=2025-02-03 |magazine=Rolling Stone |language=en-US}}</ref>

=== Cinémathèque française screening controversy ===
In December 2024, a planned screening of ''Last Tango in Paris'' at the Parisian theater [[Cinémathèque française]] was cancelled after women's rights groups protested the showing due to the film's infamous rape scene. French actress [[Judith Godrèche]] also protested the theater's decision to show the film without context given to the rape scene, writing on [[Instagram]]: "It’s time to wake up, dear Cinémathèque, and restore humanity to a 19-year-old actor by behaving humanely." The cinema's director, Frédéric Bonnaud, stated that the decision to pull the film was because "We are a cinema, not a fortress. We cannot take risks with the safety of our staff and audience," and stated that "Violent individuals were beginning to make threats and holding this screening and debate posed an entirely disproportionate risk."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Willsher |first=Kim |date=2024-12-16 |title=Last Tango in Paris screening in French capital cancelled amid women's rights protests |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/dec/16/last-tango-in-paris-screening-cancelled-after-womens-rights-protests |access-date=2025-01-09 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> His statements led to further criticism from feminist groups, who accused him as posing as a victim, and stating he should have instead apologized for wanting to screen the film to begin with. The 50/50 Collective, another women's rights group, had called on the Cinématheque to provide "thoughtful and respectful" place for Schneider’s testimony and experience alongside the screening.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-12-16 |title=French cinema cancels 'Last Tango in Paris' screening over rape-scene protest |url=https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20241216-french-cinema-cancels-last-tango-in-paris-screening-after-protests |access-date=2025-01-09 |website=France 24 |language=en}}</ref> Other feminists stated they would have approved of the screening had a discussion been had after the screening and a note handed to the viewers describing the non-consensual background of the scene.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sage |first=Adam |date=2024-12-16 |title=Festival axes screening of Last Tango in Paris over protest fears |url=https://www.thetimes.com/world/europe/article/festival-axes-screening-last-tango-in-paris-v088v9hsm |access-date=2025-01-09 |website=The Times |language=en}}</ref>

=== Accolades ===
In 2002, the film ranked #48 on [[AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions|AFI's 100 Years... 100 Passions]].<ref>{{cite web |title=AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions |url=http://www.afi.com/Docs/100Years/passions100.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160624052654/http://afi.com/Docs/100Years/passions100.pdf |archive-date=June 24, 2016 |access-date=August 20, 2016 |publisher=American Film Institute}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
|+Accolades for ''Last Tango in Paris''
|-
! scope="col"| Organization
! scope="col"| Year
! scope="col"| Category
! scope="col"| Recipient(s)
! scope="col"| Result
! scope="col" class="unsortable"| {{Ref heading}}
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="2"| [[Academy Awards]]
| rowspan="2"| [[46th Academy Awards|1974]]
| [[Academy Award for Best Director|Best Director]]
| [[Bernardo Bertolucci]]
| {{nom}}
| rowspan="2"| {{center|<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1974|title=The 46th Academy Awards {{pipe}} 1974|date=4 October 2014 |publisher=[[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]]|access-date=October 12, 2024}}</ref>}}
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Actor|Best Actor]]
| rowspan="2"| [[Marlon Brando]]
| {{nom}}
|-
! scope="row"| [[British Academy Film Awards]]
| [[27th British Academy Film Awards|1974]]
| [[BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role|Best Actor in a Leading Role]]
| {{nom}}
| {{center|<ref>{{cite web|url=https://awards.bafta.org/award/1974/film|title=Film in 1974 {{pipe}} BAFTA Awards|publisher=[[British Academy of Film and Television Arts]]|access-date=October 12, 2024}}</ref>}}
|-
! scope="row"| [[David di Donatello|David di Donatello Awards]]
| 1973
| Special David
| [[Maria Schneider (actress)|Maria Schneider]]
| {{won}}
| {{center|<ref>{{cite web|url=https://tg24.sky.it/spettacolo/cinema/approfondimenti/ultimo-tango-a-parigi-film|title=''Ultimo Tango a Parigi'', 50 anni fa il film usciva al cinema in Italia|trans-title=''Last Tango in Paris'' was released in Italian theaters 50 years ago|work=[[Sky TG24]]|language=Italian|date=December 22, 2022|access-date=October 12, 2024}}</ref>}}
|-
! scope="row"| [[Directors Guild of America Awards]]
| [[26th Directors Guild of America Awards|1974]]
| [[Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Feature Film|Outstanding Directing in a Feature Film]]
| [[Bernardo Bertolucci]]
| {{nom}}
| {{center|<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dga.org/Awards/History/1970s/1973.aspx?value=1973|title=26th Annual DGA Awards|publisher=[[Directors Guild of America]]|access-date=October 12, 2024}}</ref>}}
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="2"| [[Golden Globe Awards]]
| rowspan="2"| [[31st Golden Globe Awards|1974]]
| [[Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama|Best Motion Picture – Drama]]
| ''Last Tango in Paris''
| {{nom}}
| rowspan="2"| {{center|<ref>{{cite web|url=https://goldenglobes.com/film/last-tango-in-paris/|title=''Last Tango in Paris'' {{pipe}} Golden Globes|publisher=[[Hollywood Foreign Press Association]]|access-date=October 12, 2024}}</ref>}}
|-
| [[Golden Globe Award for Best Director|Best Director]]
| [[Bernardo Bertolucci]]
| {{nom}}
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="2"| [[Grammy Awards]]
| rowspan="2"| [[16th Annual Grammy Awards|1974]]
| [[Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media|Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media]]
| [[Gato Barbieri]]
| {{nom}}
| rowspan="2"| {{center|<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.grammy.com/artists/gato-barbieri/994|title=Gato Barbieri {{pipe}} Grammy Awards|publisher=[[The Recording Academy]]|access-date=October 12, 2024}}</ref>}}
|-
| [[Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition|Best Instrumental Composition]]
| [[Gato Barbieri]] <small>(for "Theme from ''Last Tango in Paris''")</small>
| {{won}}
|-
! scope="row"| [[Nastro d'Argento|Nastro d'Argento Awards]]
| 1973
| [[Nastro d'Argento for Best Director|Best Director]]
| [[Bernardo Bertolucci]]
| {{won}}
| {{center|<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nastridargento.it/1973-2/|title=1973 Nastro d'Argento Awards|publisher=Sindacato Nazionale Giornalisti Cinematografici Italiani|language=Italian|access-date=October 12, 2024}}</ref>}}
|-
! scope="row"| [[National Society of Film Critics|National Society of Film Critics Awards]]
| [[1973 National Society of Film Critics Awards|1974]]
| [[National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor|Best Actor]]
| rowspan="2"| [[Marlon Brando]]
| {{won}}
| {{center|<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/01/07/archives/film-by-truffaut-named-best-of73-day-for-night-is-chosen-by.html|title=Film by Truffaut Named Best of '73|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=January 7, 1974|access-date=October 12, 2024}}</ref>}}
|-
! scope="row"| [[New York Film Critics Circle|New York Film Critics Circle Awards]]
| [[1973 New York Film Critics Circle Awards|1974]]
| [[New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor|Best Actor]]
| {{won}}
| {{center|<ref>{{cite web|last=Weiler|first=A. H.|author-link=A. H. Weiler|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/01/09/archives/day-for-night-wins-film-critics-award.html|title='Day for Night' Wins Film Critics|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=January 9, 1974|access-date=October 12, 2024}}</ref>}}
|}

==See also==
*[[List of cult films]]
*[[List of NC-17 rated films]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
{{Refbegin}}
* {{Cite book |title=Bernardo Bertolucci's Last Tango in Paris, the screenplay |last2=Bertolucci |first2=Bernardo |author2-link=Bernardo Bertolucci |publisher=Delacorte Press |year=1972 |location=New York |last1=Arcalli |first1=Franco |author1-link=Franco Arcalli}}
* {{Cite book |title=Bernardo Bertolucci, The Cinema of Ambiguity |last=Tonetti |first=Claretta Micheletti |publisher=Twayne Publishers |year=1995 |isbn=0-8057-9313-5 |location=New York |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/bernardobertoluc00tone}}
{{Refend}}

== External links ==
* {{Commons category-inline}}
* {{Wikiquote-inline}}
* {{IMDb title}}
* {{TCMDb title|id=17195}}
* {{AFI film|70954}}
* {{Metacritic film}}
* {{Rotten Tomatoes}}
* [https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/834 Pauline Kael's review]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160403220525/http://maria-schneider.net/lasttangoinparis.html Maria Schneider filmography]
* [https://www.life.com/image/first/in-gallery/55541/last-tango-in-paris#index/0 ''Last Tango in Paris''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110208143105/https://www.life.com/image/first/in-gallery/55541/last-tango-in-paris#index/0 |date=8 February 2011 }} – slideshow by ''[[Life magazine]]''

{{Bernardo Bertolucci}}
{{Tokyo Sports Film Award for Best Foreign Film}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Portal bar|France|Italy|Film}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Last Tango In Paris}}
[[Category:1972 films]]
[[Category:1972 romantic drama films]]
[[Category:1970s English-language films]]
[[Category:1970s erotic drama films]]
[[Category:1970s French-language films]]
[[Category:1972 independent films]]
[[Category:1972 multilingual films]]
[[Category:2024 controversies]]
[[Category:Censored films]]
[[Category:Film censorship in Italy]]
[[Category:English-language French films]]
[[Category:English-language Italian films]]
[[Category:English-language erotic romance films]]
[[Category:Films about grief]]
[[Category:Films about murder]]
[[Category:Films about rape in France]]
[[Category:Films about sexuality]]
[[Category:Films about suicide]]
[[Category:Films about widowhood]]
[[Category:Films directed by Bernardo Bertolucci]]
[[Category:Films produced by Alberto Grimaldi]]
[[Category:Films set in Paris]]
[[Category:Films shot in Paris]]
[[Category:Films with atheism-related themes]]
[[Category:French erotic drama films]]
[[Category:French multilingual films]]
[[Category:French romantic drama films]]
[[Category:Italian erotic drama films]]
[[Category:Italian independent films]]
[[Category:Italian multilingual films]]
[[Category:Italian romantic drama films]]
[[Category:Obscenity controversies in film]]
[[Category:Rating controversies in film]]
[[Category:Sexual revolution]]
[[Category:United Artists films]]
[[Category:1970s Italian films]]
[[Category:1970s French films]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Bernardo Bertolucci]]
[[Category:English-language erotic drama films]]
[[Category:English-language romantic drama films]]