The screening of Last Tango in Paris, which features a rape scene filmed without the consent of actress Maria Schneider, was canceled at a cinema in the French capital following protests by women’s rights groups.
The Cinémathèque Francaise, a film archive and movie theater partly financed by the state, announced the decision to cancel Sunday’s screening to “calm tensions and taking into account possible security risks.”
‘We are a cinema, not a fortress. We cannot take risks for the safety of our staff and the public,” Cinémathèque director Frédéric Bonnaud told AFP on Sunday.
‘Violent individuals were beginning to make threats and conducting this assessment and debate posed a wholly disproportionate risk. So we had to let it go,” he added.
Activists responded to the claims, saying the planned protests did not constitute security threats and would have been peaceful.
‘Last Tango in Paris’, directed by Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci in 1972, was screened on Sunday night as part of a retrospective of the work of American actor Marlon Brando.
Actress Judith Godreche, a prominent figure in France’s #MeToo movement, led criticism for the decision to screen the film without providing context to viewers, which she said was disrespectful to the memory of Schneider, who he died in 2011.
He said that instead of honoring Brando’s memory, Schneider’s career and life should be remembered.
Schneider starred in the controversial film alongside American superstar Marlon Brando, who was 48 years old at the time of filming.
Actress Judith Godreche, a leading figure in France’s #MeToo movement, posted an image on Instagram showing a sign placed over the name of the road where the Cinematheque is based, renaming it after Schneider in an act of protest.
“It’s time to wake up, dear Cinémathèque, and restore humanity to 19-year-old actresses (Schneider’s age during filming) by behaving humanly,” he wrote.
The film explores the relationship between a widowed American in Paris and a much younger woman, culminating in a scene of non-consensual sodomy.
While the sex was faked, it was later revealed that Brando and Bertolucci, who were later nominated for Oscars, had kept Schneider in the dark about what would happen.
“I didn’t want Maria to represent her humiliation and her rage,” Bertolucci said in shocking comments made at the time. ‘I wanted Maria to feel, not act, the rage and humiliation. Then he hated me his whole life.
Schneider later said that she was crying real tears during filming and Brando did not comfort her afterwards.
After the vulgar scene, in 2007, four years before her death, Schneider told the Daily Mail that she felt “a little violated” by Brando and Bertolucci.
“I should have called my agent or had my lawyer come to the set because you can’t force someone to do something that’s not in the script,” he said.
‘Marlon told 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.’
Her accusations, first made in the 1970s, were largely ignored, as explored in the recent documentary ‘Maria’.
After the harrowing and disturbing rape scene, Schneider said she felt like she had immediately become a sex symbol, admitting that “it drove me a little crazy.”
The 50/50 collective, which advocates for gender parity in cinema, also asked the Cinémathèque to offer a “reflective and respectful” place for Schneider’s testimony and experience during the screening.
Casting director Sophie Diodovic criticized the decision, saying: “What a shame! Instead of organizing a debate and contextualization of the film, La Cinématheque prefers to cancel the screening!!
‘Are feminists dangerous to security?’ No feminist demonstration has ever been violent!! Disgusting misogyny!!!!’
The Cinémathèque had promised on Friday to hold a “debate with the public” to address the issues raised by the film.
Bonnaud recalled that the film was screened “without incident” at the Cinémathèque in 2017, before the #MeToo campaign highlighted the prevalence of violence against women.
The actress Maria Schneider received the decoration from the Ministry of Culture on July 1, 2010 in Paris
Schneider spent much of her life as an advocate for actresses who faced situations similar to the one she went through in the ’70s: a newcomer who was exploited by powerful male figures.
Later in life, Schneider appeared at a film festival where Bertolucci was also present.
The organizers tried to bring the director and the star together, but she refused. “I don’t know that man,” he said.
Schneider died in Paris on February 3, 2011, at the age of 58, after a long battle with cancer.