Last Tango in Paris · reception & legacy

How Last Tango in Paris has been received, argued over, and remembered.

The arc

In 1972 it was the scandal-succès of the decade — X-rated, banned in Italy, and hailed by Pauline Kael as a breakthrough comparable to the premiere of 'The Rite of Spring'. Today it's discussed less as an erotic landmark than as a case study in what was done to Maria Schneider, and the reappraisal has run almost entirely in reverse.

What's debated

The permanent debate: can you still rate the filmmaking when Schneider herself said she felt humiliated on set and Bertolucci later admitted springing the infamous scene's details on her — the ultimate 'separate the art from how it was made' test.

Its footprint

'The butter' became instant cultural shorthand — parodied, punchlined, and referenced for fifty years — and Kael's rave ('the most powerfully erotic movie ever made') is one of the most quoted reviews in criticism history.

Where it stands

A former canon centrepiece now viewed with an asterisk — still a 'you have to reckon with this' title for cinephiles, but one people increasingly log with an essay-length caveat rather than a star rating.

Named by the director

Influences Bernardo Bertolucci has publicly named — the director's own word, distinct from the inferred lines of influence.

• Francis Bacon — Bertolucci said the painter's contorted figures were the visual key to the film — Bacon's paintings open the credits, and he took Brando to a Bacon exhibition in Paris to show him the anguish he wanted on screen.