Maria Schneider RIP

LAST TANGO IN PARIS was the hottest film of 1972 this side of the XXX hits DEEP THROAT and BEHIND THE GREEN DOOR. Audiences were enthralled by the full-frontal nude scenes between the cinema icon Marlon Brando and the lithe ingenue Maria Schneider. The young actress was a protege of Brigitte Bardot. Nothing in the script had forewarned the 20 year-old about an improvised sex duet with Brando during which he greased her naked flesh with butter in preparation for anal sex.

The sex was faked, but Schneider’s tears were real, for in her words, “I felt humiliated and to be honest, I felt a little raped, both by Marlon and by Bertolucci. After the scene, Marlon didn’t console me or apologize. Thankfully, there was just one take.”

Her salary for the entire film was $4000.

No one paid Schneider for the everlasting infamy, for LAST TANGO IN PARIS enraged audiences around the world. New York critics labelled the film ‘pornography’. Protesters fought with movie-goers in New Jersey and church leaders descried the film the end of morality. The director and Brando were awarded Oscars for LAST TANGO, despite the controversy. Few people worried about the effects of Bertolucci’s brutal treatment of his lead actress.

Schneider struggled throughout the 70s with by drug addiction, overdoses, and a suicide attempt. She was lucky to have survived that period and her career lasted into the 90s, although the Frenchwoman never attained the acclaim of LAST TANGO IN PARIS. I saw the film at the Orson Welles Theater. I fantasized about sex with Maria Schneider for months, even after she declared herself as bisexual. Actually that statement might have rekindled my interests, however our paths never crossed in the following decades. I mourn her passing and hope that she is at rest.

Her beauty will be another light in the stars.