Word: tango
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...what seems to be new ground, taking one more hesitant step in the direction of completely free expression. The emphasis on novelty which this process entails creates a strong gulf between a natural expression of sex and the overly bawdy or overly arty films that actually get made. Last Tango in Paris, for example, is a film about decadence, but it becomes decadent itself only in its sex scenes, where filmmaker Bernardo Bertolucci, caught between discarded rules of decorum and unacceptable liberality, filmed simulations and dirty jokes. The petty sex scenes undercut the excellence of the rest of the film...
...Grande Bouffe, like Last Tango in Paris, is a vision of life burning itself out, but in The Grande Bouffe there is no romantic illusion, no disguised depravity. Ferreri makes his points in terms of acting instead of camerawork and soundtrack. The performances he elicits are often remarkable--particularly the outstanding performance of Andrea Ferreol as the teacher who joins the group--and they are well emphasized by the simplicity of his direction. But he is a neutral observer, unlike Bertolucci, unable to make the impact of events accumulate. Weakened by pseudo sex and juvenile scenes about car fetishes...
...TANGO BRIEFING...
...preceding era's prestigious portraits of European decadence but to the laws of the universe--the ways of the world--as the porno movie sees them. Ferreri's is a porn epic in the grand manner, a mordant, chilling, hilarious dirty movie that, for sheer audacious lubricity, out-tangoes "Last Tango in Paris" and almost gives the devilish Miss Jones a run for her money...
Like "Last Tango," "The Grande Bouffe" derives added shock value from the presence of stars: it's not Linda Lovelace, but respectable people like Marcello Mastroianni and Ugo Tognazzi taking the chance of their careers, letting loose, talking dirty, abandoning themselves to the urges of the unleashed libido...