From the criticism of Miquel Porter-Moix (Barcelona, 1930-Altafulla, 2004) in thetoday (January 21, 1978). It had been five days since the premiere of the film in Spain The last tango in Paris (1972) by Bernardo Bertolucci (Parma, 1941 – Rome, 2028) which the Spanish dictatorship forbade to be exhibited. The ban did not expire until two years after Franco died. Now, at the request of feminist groups, the French Cinematheque has canceled a screening of this film because the actress Maria Schneider explained that she had been humiliated during the filming of a scene. Last month it was twenty years since the passing of Miquel Porter-Moix, professor, historian and film critic.
A Last tango in Parisby Bertolucci, a resentful man, who has done a thousand jobs and little profit and whose wife has just committed suicide, is looking for a place to meditate: an apartment to rent. There he will find a girl, on whom he will try to vent his desires for sexual pleasure but also for revenge against the female gender which, as he acknowledges, he will never understand. (…) But the most important thing is how the film was made, since in this case, as in most important works, the structure and the materials used determine the degree of understanding and, therefore. The final result of the tape about the viewer. In this sense, it seems to us that the work, although it is not perfect, is, in any case, solid, well done and, at times, fully successful. (…) Bertolucci often uses quotations from other films – both from a certain realist American cinema and the obvious metaphor based on Atalanta by Jean Vigo. The perfection and – at times – the beauty of the game do nothing but prepare this finale of the Eros-Thanatos fight that was latent throughout the film but will definitely explode from the penultimate scene, with almost mechanical ghosts dancing competitive tangos . In the end, Thanatos wins and the girl can easily defend herself from the murder she commits because she can safely say that she does not know the victim. Sadness and despair, then, to the point of creating an oppressive feeling in the viewer. This was the aim of the film until an extra filmic and sociological reason intervened: the viewer’s curiosity, if not morbid. Thousands and thousands of Catalans made trips to Perpignan or further afield to see it. But they went there with the intention of being shocked, scandalized and, in this situation, they could hardly grasp the terrible but obvious beauty of the speech that was proposed to them. They were interested in the first rape, the butter scene, or his assfucking, but by focusing on the parts, they lost the thread of the structure, the reflective motivations escaped them, and when they got out, they they felt rather disappointed or disoriented. They wanted pornographic pleasure and were served by socio-philosophical approaches. the case ofLast tango in Paris should make one reflect, once again, on the dangers of treacherous advertising which, in order to obtain pecuniary success, does not hesitate to lure the public with false promises that endanger the very understanding of the work.
Source: www.ara.cat
