Last Tango actress Maria Schneider dies at 58.
The Last Tango in Paris was one the best films ever made. Do they still make films of that calibre?
Vale Maria Schneider
04 Friday Feb 2011
Posted in Uncategorized
04 Friday Feb 2011
Posted in Uncategorized
The Last Tango in Paris was one the best films ever made. Do they still make films of that calibre?
Window Dresser's Arms, Pig & Whistle 
You realise now, H, I’m avoiding doing any work…
Mrs Ato will be most displeased if the bed sheets haven’t been washed and dried by the time she comes home!
And that essay on “Ion” I still have to write for some director in the UK!
This is the third cup of coffee I’m having and still fidgeting and buggerising about, trying to avoid doing anything!
Shame, ato, shame!
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Same here, shame on H, this is the last one for now, I’m going to plant some baby carrots for Gez, the Dutch ones, the ONLY ones, he says…and some dill, leeks, zuchinis, thyme…the othe herbs are already in…
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I haven’t read much about Schneider’s death. What did the poor woman die of at this young age?
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Her agency did not specify what she died of. After a long illness, she passed away at 58.
In the seventies she suffered from drug addiction and always blamed Bertolucci for putting her through those graphic sex scenes at 19.
Bertolucci now is saying how sorry he was for having put her through all that and that he always felt tied to her and did apologize.
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Gez, I didn’t know any of that about the poor girl. You’ve no idea how profoundly guilty it makes me feel now. Had I known that Maria was forced into that role and that she was only 19, I’d be screaming louder than all the real wowsers. I absolutely hate this sort of sexual exploitation, no matter how it is bought, how big the feathers and the phony money bags were handed to the exploited one!
I feel quite sick now!
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Last Tango of course was made by the master Bertolucci, any Maria would be OK under his direction 🙂
In ‘On the Waterfront’ and in his other earlier movies Brando was wonderful and even in his later ones like ‘Apocalypse Now’ and The Godfather’ he was good…
You are right, I think the second generation Coppola, Sophie, would be an excellent choice for directing a movie about Marlon’s life and work . Are you reading this, Sophie?
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…this was meant for ato.
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I just love Atomou. We could do it together. What d’ya say, boy? You have my number, call me!
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Nah, I’m a bit busy these days, Sophie. Besides, Mrs Ato thinks you’re a bit rude showing us Scarlett’s undies in your Lost in Translation. She wouldn’t let me work with a rude directoress!
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Bugger, my disguise didn’t disguise me!
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So little time–so much butter!
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It was the end of my butter-on-toast days, JayL!
I had begun my tahini-on-toast henceforth. Never looked back.
My hand still trembles whenever I have to use butter in my cooking. Mrs Mou hasn’t seen the film and when she found out what was in it, she declared she’ll never want to see it and destroy her fondness for Marlon!
It really shook the Australian filmerati back then. Disgust mingled with leery and moist adulation. I remember coming out of the cinema feeling extremely excited. As if a heavy medieval door was finally blown away and the fresh air of freedom of expression entered Melbourne!
The film mags had something interesting to talk about for a change.
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…must try tahini, on good Italian bread I use a few drops of good olive oil.
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It’d be great, H.
Sometimes, when I feel I deserve a touch of culinary hedonism, I cut a few slices of crusty bread, spread a bit of tahini on them and put them in the oven on high temp for about 15 mins. A cup of Greek coffee will accompany them on my table (after I push a few dozen books and papers away) and the feeling of culinary hedonism would be relished.
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Then again, H, we had a family of four visit us on Sunday and I was allowed to pound some greek feta with steamed baby spinach, silverbeet (from our garden) some garlic and pepper into a paste and used that as a spread for the oven bread slices. Great appetizer.
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Precisely, Jules.
It was never raised by the margarine lobby, and I hardly ever raise it these days myself. Particularly in the context of going around the back.
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If memory serves me correctly there was some piglet reference or other.
I may be wrong, and should have looked it up 1st–but you know how impetuous I am . Shoot 1st; ask questions afterwards.
It’ll be fun testing my memory now.
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Yes there was a pig reference in the film. But one that I am not going to repeat here.
In researching that I came across the fact that Brando had prompt cards with his dialogue all over the place, making it difficult for the camera man to leave them out of the shots.
Oh the internet: once started one gets led on & on.
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Thanks for putting up a picture that has Marlon Brando in it as well…they don’t make men like that anymore.
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He was certainly a unique acotr, H. Out of the Stanislavski method acting school and under the superb directing guidance of Elia Kazan he became an actor with enormous presence in not only the cinema but also in his daily life.
Someone should make a film about his life, in fact, which is rich and fascinating. I think Sophia Copola should take on that project.
Schneider was gorgeous but had she not acted alongside Brando, in my opinion, she’d be quite unknown. She had nothing of the intensity that oozed out of Brando.
With my High school students, I directed “Streetcar” (in which my emigre daughter, Heley also acted) and I had shown that film to them during the workshopping days. I had two casts to act on alternating nights. They were all electrified by everyone’s performance in that film and my “Stanleys” particularly gave very memorable performances. That group, still talk about it among themselves in tweets and facebook, after, what? 20 years?
I have made videos of those performances and everyone who asked for a copy got one. I still got mine and occasionally I tread on that memory path by taking it out and watching it with Mrs Ato, who also contributed with the odd lunches and barbies at home.
I have the videos of the other plays, too, of course, but Brando’s inspiration can be seen very luminously in the performances of MY guys and gals!
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