Last Tango In Paris Analysis

In this essay, I am going to describe and analyse Last Tango in Paris, a film of Bernardo Bertolucci. This is a movie where one of the greatest living Italian film directors met one of the greatest living (Marlon Brando) American actors, and was condemned by the Italian Court of Cassation that demanded the destruction of every copy of the film. Last Tango in Paris became a milestone in the cinematographic industry because of its uniqueness, not only in Italy but on the international movie scene, as well, because of its obscene performances that ran contrary to the contemporary principles of public morality, leading to international astonishment and scandal during the seventies.
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BIOGRAPHY
Bertolucci was born on the Bertolucci family farm on 16 March 1941 in Baccanelli, northern Italy, near Parma.
His father was Attilio Bertolucci, an Italian poet as well as art and film critic, and his mother was Ninetta Giovanardi. Bertolucci’s only brother, Giuseppe, was born in 1947.
Like his father, Giuseppe practiced poetry along with painting, and

Gerard, T. Jefferson Kline and Bruce Sklarew: Bernardo Bertolucci Interviews. Jackson: University press of Mississipi, 2000. Page xx.
3David Thompson: Last Tango in Paris. London: BFI Modern Classics, 1998. Page 12-13. 4 As a result of the explicit eroticism and sexual scenes featured in the movie, many French actresses rejected the part for the role of Jeanne. The only one who agreed to all the scenes was Maria Schneider.
THE INFLUENCE OF FRANCIS BACON’S ART
Last Tango in Paris opens with a title sequence showing two paintings by Francis Bacon on a black background - Double Portrait of Lucian Freud and Frank Auerbach and Study for Portrait (Isabel Rawsthorne).
The first painting depicts a man (Freud) in white underwear lying on a red sofa against a yellow and white wall and a green floor. The painter is lying with one arm on their chest and the other under his head, with a bent leg over the other that is