Last Tango in Paris

Last Tango in Paris
Theatrical release poster
Directed byBernardo Bertolucci
Screenplay by
Story byBernardo Bertolucci
Produced byAlberto Grimaldi
Starring
CinematographyVittorio Storaro
Edited by
Music byGato Barbieri
Production
companies
Distributed byUnited Artists
Release dates
  • 14 October 1972 (1972-10-14) (New York Film Festival)
  • 15 December 1972 (1972-12-15) (France)
  • 16 December 1972 (1972-12-16) (Italy)
Running time
129 minutes
Countries
  • Italy
  • France
Languages
  • English
  • French
Budget$1 million[1]
Box office$96 million

Last Tango in Paris (Italian: Ultimo tango a Parigi; French: Le Dernier Tango à Paris) is a 1972 erotic drama film directed by Bernardo Bertolucci. The film stars Marlon Brando, Maria Schneider and Jean-Pierre Léaud, and portrays a recently widowed American who begins an anonymous sexual relationship with a young Parisian woman.

The film premiered at the New York Film Festival on 14 October 1972 and grossed $36 million in its U.S. theatrical release,[2] making it the seventh highest-grossing film of 1973. The film's raw portrayal of sexual violence and emotional turmoil led to international controversy and drew various levels of government censorship in different jurisdictions. Upon release in the United States, the MPAA gave the film an X rating. United Artists Classics released an R-rated cut in 1981. In 1997, after the film became part of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer library, the film was reclassified as NC-17.

  1. ^ Tino Balio, United Artists: The Company That Changed the Film Industry, Uni of Wisconsin Press, 1987 p 288
  2. ^ "Last Tango in Paris". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 31 May 2020.