Acclaimed Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci, has died at the age of 77 at his home in Rome after being ill for some time. Italian State Media report that he was surrounded by his family.
Bernado was to rise to fame as a filmmaker in 1987 when his work The Last Emperor, the story of the last emperor of China, won all nine Oscars it had been nominated for including best movie and best director.
But it was his 1972 movie Last Tango in Paris that was to cause a major stir across the globe. Bertolucci liked to explore the sexual relations of characters in a psychological crisis. This is what Last Tango in Paris is all about. When it first came out it was banned in Italy and only released 15 years later.
In the movie, Marlon Brando plays a middle-aged American abroad who begins an affair with a much younger Parisian woman, played by Maria Schneider, initially as a way to get over his wife’s suicide. Their physical coming together without the sharing of any personal information whatsoever is not without its consequences.
The movie is available via streaming if your curiosity is piqued as to what constituted a scandalous movie back in 1972. You can watch the trailer right here.
May you rest in peace Bernardo Bertolucci.
WARNING: Adult Content
