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Faced with outcry, the Cinémathèque canceled the screening of “Last Tango in Paris” (cinema library building photographed in 2016).
CULTURE – Radical decision to end the controversy. The Cinémathèque française announced this Saturday, December 14, the cancellation of the screening of Last tango in Parisfilm including a rape scene filmed without the consent of its actress Maria Schneider, in the face of outcry from feminist associations.
“In the interest of calming minds, and in view of the security risks involved, the Cinémathèque française is canceling the screening of Last tango in Parisscheduled for this Sunday at 8 p.m. »indicates the institution on the social network. “The safety of our audiences and our staff comes before any other consideration”.
“We are a film library, not an entrenched camp. And we cannot take risks with the safety of staff and the public”reacted to AFP Frédéric Bonnaud, the director of the Cinémathèque. “Violent people were beginning to announce themselves and maintaining this projection preceded by a debate became a completely disproportionate risk. Too bad “he clarified.
The 1972 film directed by Bernardo Bertolucci evokes the morbid and sulfurous relationship between an American widower passing through Paris and a very young woman. This closed session reaches its climax in a scene of non-consensual sodomy.
This rape scene, which earned the X-rated film the wrath of the Vatican, entered the history of cinema, before symbolizing sexual violence in the 7th art years later: although simulated, the scene was imposed on the actress, a minor at the time, and will break her. She will talk about it as soon as the film is released, evoking a double rape on the part of the actor and the director, who had decided on the scene without talking to her about it.
Judith Godrèche and Sandrine Rousseau outraged
The film’s programming has been denounced for several days by the actress Judith Godrechefigure of movement #MeToo in France, who notably deplored the lack of contextualization of the film and the lack of respect towards the actress who died in 2011.
The 50/50 collective, which fights for parity in cinema, also called on “meditation thoughtful and respectful of the words of the victim, the actress Maria Schneider”. For its part, the SFA-CGT union recalled that “filming and broadcasting rape remains reprehensible”. “Today we know. We cannot pretend not to understand and see the significance of this rape scene”the union wrote again.
The Cinémathèque had promised on Friday “a time for discussion with the public” upstream of the projection, at “about the questions” that his projection raised. Which was not enough to extinguish the anger.
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