When a businessman named Paul loses his wife to suicide, he struggles to find any sort of meaning with his life. Firmly living like a man who is no longer alive inside due to his own belief in his failed life, Paul meets a young girl and begins to have a torrid love fest where they don’t exchange names or information, rather only the moment.
I had heard so much about this film, but I wasn’t sure of what to make of it. Honestly, imagining Marlon Brando doing anything outside of speaking to Superman or directing a mafia would be highly unusual for me. Imagining the man naked and in a sexual embrace gives me the chills just slightly. With that said, I was completely wrong about the film. The movie that Bernardo Bertolucci put together had less to do with the ‘actual’ act of sex, rather it had to do solely with the emotional part of it. We had Paul (Marlon Brando) struggling with his own demons and firmly believing he had failed in his life, hiding behind this unknown persona that probably felt the most alive when he is having sex with Jeanne (Maria Schneider). It’s touching, powerful and a tiny bit tragic. Bertolucci seems to keep this masterpiece on track though, through it’s ups and downs and arrives at a pretty satisfying conclusion. He captures the essence of the human psyche through his ‘Paul’ and replicates the animal instincts and urges perfectly.
While there should be a lot of praise given to Maria Schneider, who played a perfectly passive young Jeanne to Marlon Brando’s Paul, most of this film is driven by Brando. Brando’s performance and guilt/grief driven character seems to carry the film, which isn’t surprising. His power to show passion, anger and just plain animal instincts in the film is unrivaled. It’s a side of Brando that I had never seen and one that just adds an entirely new dimension in his overall acting body of work. It’s tough to describe how good he is in this film, but easy to understand once you watch it.
Are there any issues with the film? It’s not perfect. The film does have some moments that most would consider dull; possibly slow moving. Other than that, it truly is a classic film. Prepare yourself though, as you will be slightly uncomfortable at first with the sometimes brutal sexual acts between the couple. If you can get beyond that one-dimensional element, you’ll find a very emotional, gratifying film underneath.
Switching gears, the Blu-ray is actually good (not great though). While there aren’t nearly as many artifacts in the movie Rain Man, the 1972 still shows a little bit of age. There are some really gorgeous scenes that bring out the blacks/whites beautifully. The film is meant to be a tad bit gray and dark in some areas, which bring out that graininess. Still, the picture is pretty solid and looks good on a 1080p screen. The audio isn’t half bad either, though disturbingly good during the sex scenes.
As for features, regretfully none (unless you consider a trailer a feature).