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The Last Tango in Paris was born from a fantasy by Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci. He had imagined meeting a stranger on the street and having a sexual encounter with her, without ever knowing her identity. This idea became the foundation of the script he developed with his friend Franco Arcalli.
Initially, Dominique Sanda was cast in the lead female role alongside Jean-Louis Trintignant. However, Trintignant turned down the part, and Sanda, pregnant at the time, had to step aside. Bertolucci then selected a more striking pairing: Marlon Brando, the Hollywood superstar, and Maria Schneider, a 19-year-old, relatively unknown French actress.
Bertolucci was drawn to Brando’s raw, expressive talent, believing him to be the perfect fit for the mysterious, tortured lover. As for Schneider, he was captivated by her rebellious and fiery nature, which matched the character of Jeanne — a liberated yet extremely sensitive woman. Bertolucci aimed to capture the chemistry between them on screen.
At 48, Marlon Brando was emerging from a tumultuous period. Struggling with depression after the assassination of his partner Dorothy Killgallen, he had not worked in several years. He agreed to the role for a significant fee and a share of the film’s earnings. Schneider, in contrast, was a rising star in French cinema, having been discovered in Claude Sautet’s Les Choses de la vie. Her fiery temperament and instinctive acting style impressed Bertolucci.
The two actors met only the day before shooting, and the tension was thick in the air. Brando, uncomfortable with the script, often improvised, leaving his young co-star unsettled. Bertolucci encouraged this charged atmosphere, intentionally blurring the line between fiction and reality. He wanted to push his actors to their limits, capturing raw, unfiltered emotion.
This sense of ambiguity reached its peak during the infamous “butter scene.” In this shocking and violent sexual encounter, Paul’s character sodomizes Jeanne using butter as a lubricant. Bertolucci and Brando had planned the scene without Schneider’s knowledge. When Brando imposed the act on her, her shock and disgust were entirely real.
A Shattered Career and Life
For years, Maria Schneider carried the profound trauma of that infamous scene in silence. She repeatedly expressed feeling “humiliated” and “a little raped,” both by her co-star and the director who had orchestrated the sordid trap. Brando himself later called the experience “horrible” and “pornographic.” At the time, no one fully grasped the extent of this abuse of power.
Beyond the physical violence of the scene, it is the ethics of the filming process that raise serious questions. By blurring the line between fiction and reality and betraying the trust of his actress, Bertolucci crossed a red line. He fostered confusion between simulated rape and real rape, trampling on Schneider’s consent and dignity. A symbolic crime, the stigmata of which she would carry for the rest of her life.
Even today, Maria Schneider remains a victim sacrificed in the name of “genius” and “transgression.” Crushed by a patriarchal industry, her tragic journey highlights the latent misogyny within the field and its disregard for the integrity of actresses. In a way, Schneider’s fate foreshadows that of other actresses shattered by the industry’s cruelty, such as Adèle Haenel.
While Last Tango in Paris brought Maria Schneider international fame, it also marked the beginning of her downward spiral. Deeply devastated by the experience, the actress has never fully recovered. Unwillingly branded with this sordid image, she was typecast in roles of tortured and unstable young women, never again given the opportunity to truly shine.
Even worse, the film became a true curse. Schneider succumbed to drug addiction and depression, with multiple suicide attempts. Her psychological fragility severely sabotaged her career. Labeled “unmanageable” by producers, she became “uninsurable” and was ultimately blacklisted in Hollywood after walking off several sets.
Until her demise in 2011, Maria Schneider fought to break free from this burden. For years, she remained silent, but eventually, she shared her ordeal, hoping to spark change in the industry. Through her testimony, she aimed to warn young actresses and expose the unchecked power of directors willing to do anything to achieve their goals. Her testimony carries even more significance today.
50 Years Later, the Controversy Persists
Fifty years after its release, Last Tango in Paris remains a polarizing film. Once lauded by critics as a daring masterpiece of transgression, it is now inextricably tied to a toxic legacy. In December 2024, a planned screening at the French Cinematheque reignited the debate. Feminists and actors' unions called for a boycott, demanding a “clear warning” be issued before the film’s screening.
For them, it is crucial to highlight the abusive conditions on set and the deep distress endured by Maria Schneider. Even at the risk of being branded “censors,” they refuse to condone the glamorization of a work that bears the mark of sexual violence. In response to the uproar, the Cinematheque ultimately canceled the screening — an implicit acknowledgment of the urgent need to reassess the history of cinema through the voices of women.
By blindly celebrating this misogynistic “masterpiece” without critical reflection, we perpetuate the culture of silence and complicity that has long been entrenched in the Seventh Art. Uncomfortable questions such as consent and abuse of power continue to be ignored, all in service of the myth of the “tyrannical, all-powerful artist.” A system, strained and at its breaking point, that is finally beginning to unravel.
More than just a film, Last Tango has come to symbolize an era when the desires of directors took precedence over the dignity of actresses. In making Maria Schneider a collateral casualty of his work, Bertolucci revealed his own true nature — and the deep-rooted misogyny of a cinematic world built on male dominance. This archaic and toxic model must be urgently dismantled. Maria Schneider's final fight will not be in vain!
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