Being Maria

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1:56

Being Maria

Mar 2025

1h 42m

Biography

Drama

History

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Popcornmeter

60%

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35 Reviews

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Fewer than 50 Ratings

Maria Schneider (Anamaria Vartolomei) is a promising, young French actress. When she gets the lead in a feature film directed by an acclaimed Italian filmmaker and starring one of America's most beloved actors, it seems like the opportunity of a lifetime. Her collaborators, director Bernardo Bertolucci and star Marlon Brando (Matt Dillon) seem to be bringing out the best in Maria, sharing a warm rapport and mentorship with the 19-year old girl. Until one day, when the two men conspire to shoot a crucial sex scene as a harrowing assault without letting Maria in on the plan. The film goes on to be lauded as a fearless artistic breakthrough, but for Maria, it’s the beginning of a living hell. Based on the behind-the-scenes true story of the making of Last Tango in Paris, Jessica Palud's sensitive biopic centers Maria's story for the first time.

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Robert Abele

Los Angeles Times

there’s enough of an emotional intelligence inside the bumpier elements of “Being Maria” that the movie effectively acknowledges that it’s only one part of a complicated life story.

Mar 31, 2025

Full Review

Beatrice Loayza

New York Times

If the meandering nature of the film makes the psychic fallout seem tonally scattered, it nevertheless conveys the sense that she’s sleepwalking through life — and always fighting to snap out of it.

Mar 25, 2025

Full Review

Bob Mondello

NPR

Palud, who previously worked with Bertolucci, does her most evocative work in the on-set sequences, with a coddled Brando (a terrific Matt Dillon) and an increasingly vulnerable Schneider.

Mar 22, 2025

Full Review

Anne Brodie

What She Said

For all the sturm und drang, betrayal and abuse, the film seems bloodless and slow, but left a strong impression of diastase for the perps and empathy for those victimised in their naivete.

Rated: 2/2

May 23, 2025

Full Review

Sean Burns

North Shore Movies

Wht's ironic is that by refusing to see Schneider as an artist, the movie is guilty of some of the same sins as the director it tries to demonize.

May 22, 2025

Full Review

Simon Foster

Screen-Space (Substack)

With the luminous Anamaria Vartolomei embodying the fierce spirit of the damaged but determined Schneider, BEING MARIA honours and unravels an ahead-of-her-moment icon that suffered through and overcame systemic exploitation and trauma-stifling addiction.

Rated: 4/5

May 22, 2025

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Jessica Palud

Director

Anamaria Vartolomei

Maria Schneider

Céleste Brunnquell

Noor

Giuseppe Maggio

Bernardo Bertolucci

Yvan Attal

Daniel Gélin

Marie Gillain

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Synopsis

Maria Schneider (Anamaria Vartolomei) is a promising, young French actress. When she gets the lead in a feature film directed by an acclaimed Italian filmmaker and starring one of America's most beloved actors, it seems like the opportunity of a lifetime. Her collaborators, director Bernardo Bertolucci and star Marlon Brando (Matt Dillon) seem to be bringing out the best in Maria, sharing a warm rapport and mentorship with the 19-year old girl. Until one day, when the two men conspire to shoot a crucial sex scene as a harrowing assault without letting Maria in on the plan. The film goes on to be lauded as a fearless artistic breakthrough, but for Maria, it’s the beginning of a living hell. Based on the behind-the-scenes true story of the making of Last Tango in Paris, Jessica Palud's sensitive biopic centers Maria's story for the first time.

Director: Jessica Palud
Producer: Marielle Duigou
Screenwriter: Jessica Palud, Laurette Polmanss, Vanessa Schneider
Distributor: Kino Lorber
Production Co: Les Films de Mina
Genre: Biography, Drama, History
Original Language: French
Release Date (Theaters): Mar 21, 2025, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 29, 2025
Box Office (Gross USA): $18.0K
Runtime: 1h 42m
Sound Mix: Dolby Digital
Aspect Ratio: Flat (1.85:1)

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