Rami A
Though it occasionally tries not to be, the film is incredibly humorous despite being a very sad film. Marlon Brando gives a truly remarkable performance here.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
10/27/23
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Leaburn O
I don't think I have any idea what this was about or why I should like it….but I did like it and found Brandio and Schneider captivating and ridiculous simultaneously. Bought this one on DVD a long time ago and finally watched it.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
09/26/23
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Brent A
10% rating ... I had troubles watching this. The romance was borderline creepy because Marlon Brando's character seemed very manipulative. A little off-putting in my opinion that made him an unlikeable character.
Rated 0.5/5 Stars •
Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars
08/04/23
Full Review
Thomas V
LTIP doesn't age well, and it exemplifies the problems I have with Bertolucci. Visually it is well made with great cinematography and camera movement, and the set pieces are beautiful. Brandon and Schneider give raw, unbridled performances, especially Brando. But it is muddled and overlong, and here in 2023 and knowing that this film and the director's behavior toward Schneider make it repulsive. I can't discount my knowledge of how this film ruined poor Maria's life and scarred her when still just a kid. This film, as is 1900, is abusive to its female characters and actors, and the sex and full nudity are often excessive and gratuitous. This is not because I'm prudish, but because I don't think his more egregious depictions were necessary to move the story forward, and they may have harmed the actors because of the director's actions. Film buffs should probably still see it, but it is distasteful IMO. One thing of note is that Bertolucci's treatment of Schneider is unwittingly referenced in the film through her scenes with her drippy director fiance, who uses her much as Bertolucci did IRL. This adds another layer, but doesn't make it easier to watch.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
07/13/23
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Audience Member
Half a star is too much.
Rated 0.5/5 Stars •
Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars
05/16/23
Full Review
John O
Spoilers: Still a bombshell 50 years later. Self-absorbed American Brando is drifting, wounded by life, a dead wife who surprised him by her suicide. Angry, frustrated, sad. His soliloquy alone beside her dead body is a film classic moment. Angry at her, sadly with tears missing her, but feeling he never really knew her, and that she lied to him about who she was. A patron in the Paris hotel they ran together was also her lover, and Brando knew it.He has no family to lean on, no kids, except the wife's mother, whom he hates. So this existential reality is accompanied by the meet cute champion of all time, as he and Maria happened on one another as they separately were looking to rent the same apartment. He was seeking refuge in her, in sex, in familiarity, anything he could hold onto, and on the spot they screwed, with love not the issue. The nudity and some sex acts made this controversial half a century ago. He insisted they not exchange names and info on backgrounds. Her boyfriend, a pretentious filmmaker, sort of emphasizing the superficiality of what can sell in the world, didn't fulfill her, an actress, so she and Brando kept meeting and mating in the apartment that he rented. Maria was beautiful, sexy in an almost girlish face but the body of a real woman at age 20, and playful, funny, also searching for something, as Brando was playful and funny with her. When she finally said she would stay with Brando, 25 years her senior, he tested her, would she do what he told her all the time, and she said yes. But that introduced the angle of a sexist, patriarchal society, and finally it was enough for her to break from him and decide to marry her somewhat pathetic boyfriend. But they met again, as Brando sought and found her, and they went in a dancehall, where a real tango contest was on, ritualized tango partners not looking at one another, mimicking his insistence that he and she not really know one another. He had reformed, said he loved her and wanted to know her name, told her about himself, and wanted to be with her. She said it was over as they drank and danced, drunken, intrusively into the last dance, the one where the tango judges pick a winner and losers. She ran away from him to her home, he followed, grabbed her, she kept telling him to leave and grabbed a gun, and it took one shot to put Brando down. The final rejection by her was one too many, and he wouldn't take no for an answer, over the edge. I didn't know his name, he was trying to rape me, she repeated, lining up her story for the cops and the dead body. How do we face death, disappointment, betrayal, despair, pain and anger? This got way down to the bone, great acting. Do we think our partner doesn't love us but puts self first and takes instead of giving? We are shocked when he is shot, but not too surprised nor put off, as his narcissism won him this outcome. There was time for young Maria to right her ship after a flirt with raw, irresponsible, emotional behavior, but we didn't find out if she did.
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
10/13/22
Full Review
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