Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious:
The Making of 'Mary Poppins
Being Maria (2024)
In the midst of Hollywood’s #metoo movement, an old clip of Bernardo Bertolucci resurfaced in which the famed director seemingly suggested he did not let Maria Schneider know that her character in Last Tango in Paris would be raped, justifying the ruse as a means to heighten the actress’ performance. Though Bertolucci later clarified the only aspect of the scene that came as a surprise to Schneider was the inclusion of butter being used as a lubricant, many rightly considered the deception still amounted to the actress being violated. In Being Maria, the filmmakers partake in their own bit of subterfuge by depicting the initial impression made by Bertolucci's remarks, rehearsing the scene without any mention of rape then humiliating the actress when the cameras roll. It is a powerful moment, one in which the emotional impact is intensified by a film crew silently looking on as Schneider helplessly flounders under Marlon Brando’s weight. Though once the tango ends, the film's tempo tapers off into a listless waltz.
After initiating a relationship with her long absent father, 16-year-old Schneider is forced to fend for herself after being thrown out of home by her wounded mother. Taken in by a caring uncle, Maria uses her father’s connections to pursue a career in acting. Her big break comes when Bertolucci casts her opposite Brando in Last Tango in Paris. Though she concedes she is too young to really know what the film is about, she places her trust in the director who assures her that the film’s abundant nudity and sex scenes will all be filmed as artistically as possible.
The toll that Last Tango in Paris had on Schneider forms the crux of Being Maria, which not so much wallows in the actress’ pain than dispassionately wade through it. Ill-equipped to deal with the sudden fame and moral outrage that accompanied the film’s notoriety, the actress’ descent into a haze of drugs, sexual partners and hospitalization is languidly depicted. Frustratingly so, for after an intriguing opening the film’s raison d'être serves as merely an addendum.
Similarly, Matt Dillon’s muted performance is little more than a sub-standard impersonation of Brando. Though to be fair, by this stage of his career, that’s mostly what Brando was providing himself.
as Maria Schneider
as Marlon Brando
as Bernardo Bertolucci
as Daniel Gélin
"That scene wasn't in the original script. The truth is it was Marlon who came up with the idea. They only told me about it before we had to film the scene and I was so angry. I should have called my agent or had my lawyer come to the set because you can't force someone to do something that isn't in the script, but at the time, I didn't know that. Marlon said to me: 'Maria, don't worry, it's just a movie,' but during the scene, even though what Marlon was doing wasn't real, I was crying real tears. I felt humiliated and to be honest, I felt a little raped, both by Marlon and by Bertolucci. After the scene, Marlon didn't console me or apologise. Thankfully, there was just one take."
Maria Schneider
“Several years ago at the Cinémathèque Française someone asked me for details on the famous butter scene. I specified, but perhaps I was not clear, that I decided with Marlon Brando not to inform Maria that we would have used butter. We wanted her spontaneous reaction to that improper use [of the butter]. That is where the misunderstanding lies. Somebody thought, and thinks, that Maria had not been informed about the violence on her. That is false!... Maria knew everything because she had read the script, where it was all described. The only novelty was the idea of the butter. And that, as I learned many years later, offended Maria. Not the violence that she is subjected to in the scene, which was written in the screenplay.”
Bernardo Bertolucci
