BEING MARIA Review: Rebuking Unchecked Sexism in Film Industry

The French film industry is experiencing a full #MeToo reckoning with the case of Christophe Ruggia, a director convicted of sexual abuse of actress Adèle Haenel when she was underage.

Staple names in French cinema, such as directors Jacques Doillon and Benoît Jacquot,have also been accused of rape and sexual offenses, and actor Gerard Depardieu is facing a trial for rape.

In this climate, Jessica Palud's Being Maria revisits Bernardo Bertolucci's controversial film Last Tango in Paris and tells the untold story from the perspective of its co-star Maria Schneider and the film's life-long effect on the actress. Schneider, star of many memorable films such as Michelangelo Antonioni's The Passenger and Jacques Rivette's Merry-Go-Round, later became an outspoken activist against sexism in the French film industry.

Anamaria Vartolomei (Happening, Empire, Mickey 17), plays Schneider, a young, unknown actress chosen by Bertolucci (Giuseppe Marggio), to star opposite Marlon Brando (Matt Dillon) in the sexually-charged Last Tango, at age 19. Maria has grown up with a single mother who has a very low opinion of men and the entertainment industry; her deadbeat father, Gelin (Yvan Attal) is an actor.

Against her mother's wishes, with her teenage rebellious spirit, Maria seeks advice from Gelin and on making her way in the film industry. It was the 70s and if you were an established auteur like Bertolucci, who had directed The Conformist two years prior, it was 'anything goes' for art.

The premise of the film is two strangers meeting by chance and carrying out a strictly physical relationship, baring their bodies and souls to each other. There will be a lot of nudity, so it will be controversial, Bertolucci warns. But you get to work with Brando and your career will be launched. Maria knows what she is signing up for.

At first she finds her experience pleasant and Brando gentle. But it's the infamous "butter" scene, an improvised simulated sex scene involving butter, that really breaks Maria. After the scene, she felt violated and humiliated by both Bertolucci and Brando, who never told her what their intentions were for the scene beforehand and never apologized. Her shock and tears captured on screen were real.

Now 60 years old, Matt Dillon has gravitas and hulking physicality to play the Hollywood acting legend Brando. He moves and speaks with confidence and ease, with a glimpse of a dark side and arrogance.

Schneider is reprimanded by her manager for speaking out about the incident during the press tour after the film's release. Soon afterwards, she becomes a heroin addict and finds herself branded as 'difficult to work with', by refusing to do a nude scene in most of the roles she is offered.

Surely there must be projects that she doesn't have to go topless. Again, this was the French film industry in the 70s and 80s, where women's roles were limited -- 'either saints or harlots' Schneider says with a sigh -- and her reputation from being in Last Tango precedes her. She befriends a college student, Noor (Céleste Brunnquell), who is writing her dissertation on women's roles in films and the two become involved. And it is Noor who helps Maria through her drug addiction.

It is understandable that Vartolomei was chosen to play Schneider, even though there's no real physical resemblance. In Happening, she plays Anne, a high school student in need of an abortion, which was still illegal in 60s France. With all the conservative swing in Europe and especially in France, the film and her performance became a lightning rod for feminist activism.

And she does a great job portraying a principled young Schneider, who saw injustices in the French film industry, run by men, for men, long before #MeToo caught up with it. Being Maria is a scathing rebuke to unchecked sexism that dominated the film industry for too long, and a well-deserved portrayal of a trailblazing actress/activist.

The film opens Friday, March 21, in New York City and March 28 in Los Angeles, via Kino Lober. Visit their official site for locations, showtimes, and more information. 

Dustin Chang is a freelance writer. His musings and opinions on everything cinema and beyond can be found at www.dustinchang.com