Last Tango in Paris - Definition and Overview

Last Tango in Paris (Italian: Ultimo tango a Parigi, French: Le Dernier Tango à Paris) is a 1973 film which tells the story of a widowered American who is drawn into a sexual relationship with a soon-to-be-married Parisian woman. It stars Marlon Brando, Maria Schneider, and Jean-Pierre Léaud.

The movie was written by Bernardo Bertolucci, Franco Arcalli, and Agnès Varda (additional dialogue). It was directed by Bertolucci.

The film caused a deep scandal in Italy for a sodomy scene; the film was sequestered by censorship and officially all the copies were destroyed. An Italian court revoked Bertolucci's civil rights for five years plus it gave him a four-month suspended prison sentence. Many years after, when the general modesty had changed and the censorship commission had been abolished, the film reappeared (because Bertolucci had kept a clandestine copy) and was projected in a slightly censored version.

It was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Marlon Brando) and Best Director.

External links

• Last Tango in Paris (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070849/) at the Internet Movie Database