Being Maria

by Mike McGranaghan

I came to Bernardo Bertolucci’s Last Tango in Paris as a movie-obsessed teenager. It was the mid-1980s. My friend Rob had been gifted a videodisc player – a now defunct device that played movies similar to how a record played music – and several titles to go along with it. One day, he pulled out Last Tango and suggested we watch it.

“I hear it’s brilliant,” I said.

With excitement he responded, “I hear it’s dirty."

We turned the film off after the infamous butter scene, which was indeed dirty, but there was something profoundly disturbing about it that made the dirtiness unappealing. We were far more horrified than titillated. These days, even the most casual of film buffs knows star Maria Schneider was basically violated on camera by Marlon Brando, at Bertolucci’s behest, all in the name of “art.” Being Maria looks at how filming that scene changed the actress’s life and career.

Anamaria Vartolomei (Happening) plays Schneider, a 19-year-old actress plucked from obscurity by Bertolucci (Giuseppe Maggio) to star in his newest film. She’s okay with the frequent nudity, and she benefits from getting to work with Brando (Matt Dillon). The problem begins when the director fails to properly clue her in that there’s going to be a simulated rape. “It’s just a movie,” Brando tells her afterward, largely ignoring that the experience has left her feeling abused and humiliated. When Last Tango becomes a controversial sensation, Schneider struggles to get parts that don’t require nudity. The trauma of filming the butter scene leads to heroin addiction and severe depression.

Being Maria is a raw, unflinching exploration of how women have traditionally been treated as objects within the entertainment industry. Bertolucci is pretentious and wrapped up in his art. Brando is fixated on his performance. They think surprising Schneider in the scene will elicit a real reaction that will make the film better. Not once do they consult her on this dubious creative decision. She is not an equal collaborator; she is a toy, there to be manipulated.

Several scenes from Last Tango in Paris are recreated here, helping to show how the relatively naïve Schneider is lulled into feeling comfortable with the edgy subject matter and made to feel as though she has a level of control. Those recreations are exceptionally well-done, with Dillon proving to be an unexpectedly good choice to play Brando. They set the stage for the second half, which details the personal fallout for the actress.

Vartolomei is outstanding in the lead role. Watching her take the character from hopeful starlet to jaded addict is never less than engrossing due to her intense commitment. Over the course of 102 minutes, she convincingly portrays Maria Schneider’s entire trajectory. It’s extraordinary work – and Vartolomei presumably didn’t need to be tricked by director Jessica Palud to achieve it.

On a couple occasions, Being Maria leaves out something we might really want to see. For example, it shows Schneider and Brando on the red carpet at the premiere yet ignores how she feels watching her own trauma projected onto a big screen in front of an audience. That seems pretty important. Two or three omissions don’t completely wreck the impact, though. The movie brings important context to the most famous scene in one of the most provocative films ever made, guaranteeing you’ll never look at Last Tango in Paris in quite the same way.

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