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Dec 13, 2014Nursebob rated this title 2.5 out of 5 stars
Bernardo Bertolucci’s problematic film made international headlines upon its release thanks to some graphic sex and a twisted plot. It all seems pretty quaint 40 years later but this annoyingly artsy story of two disillusioned strangers finding solace in f**king each other’s brains out still carries faint remnants of an emotional punch. Middle-aged Paul is an embittered widower still angry over his wife’s sudden suicide; twenty-something Jeanne is trying to find a bit of quiet time from her boyfriend, a narcissistic director obsessed with filming her every move. When the two have a chance encounter in an empty Parisian apartment sparks fly and belt buckles are undone leading to an ongoing sexual liaison intentionally devoid of any personal attachments or other “B.S.” from the outside world; they don’t even know each other’s names. A pretentious and rambling masturbatory fantasy with dreary overtones of mortality and contemporary angst. In the role of Paul, Marlon Brando is thoroughly convincing as he scowls and ruminates (a dead rat proves to be a potent vehicle), Maria Schneider’s Jeanne however seems little more than a shallow prop constantly upstaged by her own breasts. As for the sex...you’ll never look at a stick of butter the same way again.