Last Tango in Paris

Last Tango in Paris is a 1972 Italian-French erotic drama film directed by Bernardo Bertolucci, starring Marlon Brando, Maria Schneider, and Jean-Pierre Léaud.

Plot
Distraught following his wife's suicide, American hotelier Paul (Marlon Brando) becomes transfixed by the beautiful younger Frenchwoman Jeanne (Maria Schneider) when he meets her by chance at an apartment both are attempting to rent. The couple begin an extended but purely anonymous sexual relationship in which they do not even tell each other their names, but it soon becomes clear that the couple's deliberate level of disassociation cannot continue.

Cast

 * Marlon Brando as Paul, an American expatriate and hotel owner
 * Maria Schneider as Jeanne, a young Parisian woman
 * Jean-Pierre Léaud as Thomas, a film director and Jeanne's fiancé
 * Maria Michi as Rosa's mother
 * Massimo Girotti as Marcel, Rosa's former lover
 * Giovanna Galletti as the prostitute, an old acquaintance of Rosa
 * Catherine Allégret as Catherine, a maid at Paul and Rosa's hotel
 * Gitt Magrini as Jeanne's mother
 * Luce Marquand as Olympia, Jeanne's former childhood nurse
 * Dan Diament as the TV sound engineer
 * Catherine Sola as the script girl
 * Mauro Marchetti as the TV cameraman
 * Peter Schommer as the TV assistant cameraman
 * Catherine Breillat as Mouchette, a dressmaker
 * Marie-Hélène Breillat as Monique, a dressmaker
 * Darling Légitimus as the Concierge
 * Veronica Lazar as Rosa, Paul's deceased wife
 * Armand Abplanalp as the prostitute's client
 * Rachel Kesterber as Christine
 * Ramón Mendizábal as the Tango orchestra leader
 * Mimi Pinson as the President of Tango jury
 * Gérard Lepennec as the tall furniture mover
 * Stéphane Koziak as the short furniture mover
 * Michel Delahaye (scenes deleted) as the Bible salesman
 * Laura Betti (scenes deleted) as Miss Blandish
 * Jean-Luc Bideau (scenes deleted) as the Barge Captain
 * Gianni Pulone (scenes deleted)
 * Franca Sciutto (scenes deleted)

Critical response
The film opened in late 1972 in France, where filmgoers stood in two-hour queues for the first month of its run at the seven cinemas where it was screened. It gained unanimous positive reviews in every major French publication. To circumvent state censorship, thousands of Spaniards travelled hundreds of kilometers to reach French cinemas in Biarritz and Perpignan where Tango was playing. Following that, it was released in the United States, Great Britain, and other venues.