18, 129 mins
Bernardo Bertolucci’s erotic masterpiece Last Tango in Paris still has the unnerving power to shock after 35 years. The film is utterly dominated by a bullish Marlon Brando back to his overpowering best after a series of flaky roles. Here he plays a confused, middle-aged American emotionally stranded in Paris after his wife’s inexplicable suicide. Sex with a young stranger (Maria Schneider), looking for an apartment to rent, develops into an intense, taboo affair with strict ground rules that basically allow Brando to workshop his obsessions.
Bertolucci’s images are extraordinary. Brando’s combustible mix of narcissism and chauvinism is the stuff of legend.