Day 59: Last Tango in Paris 1972

Last Tango in Paris 1972

Life back in Sydney resumed and the girls went back to school, my wife went back to work, and I completed my essay of thoughts on Il Conformista (1970).

In the evening I watched Last Tango in Paris, the subsequent film Bertolucci directed.

When I started watching this film I brought several pre-conceived ideas to the experience.

  • When I was a kid I remember hearing that there was an R-rated film (in Australia’s rating system – U. K. and USA it was X) with Marlon Brando, called Last Tango in Paris
  • I remember hearing that it had a lot of sex scenes in it and was predominantly about sex
  • It wasn’t in the major Top 100 Films Ever lists

I wasn’t watching it with any notion that it would be a good enough film that I’d want to write about. I’d just watched the one Bertolucci film which came up on lists many times, Il Conformista (1970), and my DVD player rejected my Blu-Ray of L’Avventura (1960) which was the first of this week’s films. Suddenly my OPPO player wasn’t playing Region A discs. Thwarted, I decided the only thing that even met the basic critieria of needing to see and immerse myself in more European films, was the other famous Bertolucci film – the notorious one.

It had been a resident of my movie collection for several years. One of those films you buy for $8 on Blu-Ray knowing that it’s famous and at some stage it needs to be seen. It turned out tonight was the night.