As France grapples with a renewed #MeToo reckoning, the film “Being Maria” transports audiences back to the early 1970s, a time when directors held unchecked power and actresses’ consent was often ignored.
Premiering out of competition at Cannes, “Being Maria” revisits one of cinema’s most infamous scenes: Marlon Brando’s butter-based sexual assault in the 1972 film “Last Tango in Paris.”
French director Jessica Palud, drawing on her own experiences, was inspired to create the film. “I worked as an assistant on several films and saw actors humiliated on set,” Palud, 42, told AFP.
“Being Maria” chronicles Maria Schneider’s rise to fame after being cast by Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci in “Last Tango in Paris,” and the profound impact it had on her life and career. In the controversial “butter scene,” Schneider, then 19, is depicted being anally raped by Brando’s character with the aid of butter.
The film stars Matt Dillon as Brando and Anamaria Vartolomei, known for her role in “Happening,” as Schneider, who was not fully informed about the scene’s specifics.
“What I wanted to understand was what she felt,” said Palud, who began her career as a 19-year-old crew member on Bertolucci’s “The Dreamers” in 2003. She discovered the original script for “Last Tango in Paris,” banned in several countries, which debunked the myth that the scene was real.
“The scene wasn’t written,” Palud explained. It later emerged that Schneider was kept unaware of the details by Brando and Bertolucci, both of whom received Oscar nominations for the film.
“Even though what Marlon was doing wasn’t real, I was crying real tears,” Schneider later revealed. “I felt humiliated and a little raped, both by Marlon and by Bertolucci. After the scene, Marlon didn’t console me or apologize. Thankfully, there was just one take.”
Despite acting in around 50 films, Schneider remained traumatized by the experience and even attempted suicide.
In a 2016 interview with Elle, Bertolucci admitted he didn’t inform Schneider about the scene because he “wanted her reaction as a girl, not as an actress,” reigniting outrage. Jessica Chastain condemned the film on Twitter, highlighting the exploitative nature of the scene.
In a 1976 documentary, Schneider discussed the male-dominated industry: “The producers are men, the technicians are men, the directors are men… The agents are men and I feel they have subjects for men.” She expressed her desire to avoid stereotypical roles and act alongside men her age. “Even Nicholson is better than Brando. But it’s not great. He’s 40, or almost,” she said.
Palud was moved by Schneider’s words, recognizing their modern relevance. “What moved me was this woman in the 1970s who was talking, saying things that no one seemed to be hearing,” she said.
