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that the quotient of sexuality will escalate. Through Jeanne, viewers oscillate from attraction
- engendered by the mix of passion and tenderness in scenes where she is washed by Paul
while taking a bath - to uneasiness caused by his escalating dominance which is brought to
extremes, initially by the act of sodomy and later by his insolent masturbation request.
The film's representation of sex elicits both a strong fascination and a recognition of
its ideological perspective concerning the necessity of opposing conventional - and therefore
inauthentic - depictions of sexual relationships in film. Maria Schneider, the actress
portraying Jeanne, undertook a challenging role with a mixture of childish spontaneity and
rebelliousness. But due to their young age at the time of filming, a question has to be posed as
to whether the vulnerability of Schneider and, later, Eva Green (Isabel in Tlie Dreamers),
compared with more established actresses, was visually exploited by the director, particularly
in scenes where the camera's graphic representation of them cannot be ascribed to a diegetic
character's POV. This occurs in the scene in which Jeanne is being bathed by Paul, and gets
to her feet for no apparent narrative reason, her body effectively being objectified in the dual
gazes of Paul and the viewer. Another scene, in the apartment's bathroom as the two
protagonists argue, again presents Schneider in a state of undress, viewed through the
camera's medium-long shot and also in the reflection of the bathroom mirror, the actress
positioning herself - or being asked to position herself - frontally before the camera at a
certain point. So while the film can be considered intellectually progressive in its
conceptualization of sexual mores, much of the actual eroticism of its emotional charge is
attributable to a far less progressive objectification and visual consumption of Schneider.
Obstructions of the viewer's cognitive schemata
The narrative context of Last Tango in Paris is introduced but then left undetermined for a
large part of the film, eliciting affective responses appropriate to 'the representation of the
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