Oscar-winning director Bernardo Bertolucci has died at the age of 77 due to cancer. He is known for his films like The Conformist, The Last Emperor, and The Dreamers.
But what he will always be remembered for was when his movie Last Tango in Paris blew up in 2016 as the movie that fronted the #MeToo movement. A video interview resurfaced in 2016 where Bernardo revealed that actress Maria Schneider had no knowledge of the infamous “butter rape” scene. It was not consensual, at all.
Bernardo described the outrage from what happened as a “ridiculous misunderstanding.” His statement read, “Several years ago at the Cinemathèque Francaise 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 [Schneider] that we would have used butter. We wanted her spontaneous reaction to that improper use [of the butter]. That is where the misunderstanding lies.”
Maria, on the other hand, recounted the horrible scene and said that she felt violated. “I felt humiliated and to be honest, I felt a little raped, both by Marlon and by Bertolucci,” she writes. “After the scene, Marlon didn’t console me or [apologize]. Thankfully, there was just one take.”
Yes, Bernardo Bertolucci was a great director. But never forget what he did for the sake of a movie scene—he assaulted a young woman.
Photo courtesy of Associazione Culturale Cinemazero via Wikimedia Commons
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