Paris screening of ‘Last Tango in Paris’ canceled amid controversy

There was no screening as planned of Last Tango in Paris (1972), by Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci (1941-2018), on Sunday, December 15, at La Cinémathèque Française. The cinema establishment in Paris, which had scheduled it as part of a retrospective devoted to American actor Marlon Brando (1924-2004), canceled the screening the night before. The lack of mediation around the film, which shows a rape scene shot without the consent of actress Maria Schneider (1952-2011), had provoked protests all week from film personalities and feminist associations.

“In a bid to calm spirits and in view of the security risks involved, La Cinémathèque Française is canceling the screening scheduled for this Sunday, at 8 pm,” wrote the establishment, in a statement issued on Saturday evening. “The safety of our audiences and staff comes before any other consideration.” In similar circumstances, the cinema had in 2017 canceled a retrospective devoted to French filmmaker Jean-Claude Brisseau (1944-2019), convicted in 2005 of sexual harassment, after an outcry from feminist associations.

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