Last tango with ethics

Revelations this week about the filming of The Last Tango in Paris raise broader issues for the ethics of hoodwinking actors to force them to 'feel not act'.
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A still from The Birds, Image via Museum of Modern Art 

The controversial film Last Tango in Paris features a now infamous scene where 48-year-old Marlon Brando’s character Paul anally rapes Jeanne, played by a 19-year-old Maria Schneider, using a fingerful of butter.

The film, which was denounced as obscene and banned in many countries, made headlines in recent days after a 2013 interview surfaced in which Bertolucci said neither he nor Marlon Brando had told Schneider of their plans to use the butter during the scene.

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Emma Clark Gratton
About the Author
Emma Clark Gratton is an ArtsHub staff writer.