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anticipates T. Jefferson Kline's Bertolucci 's Dream Loom: A Psychoanalytic Study of Cinema
(1987), as it typifies the way Bertolucci's interviews fuelled the psychoanalytical readings
that were prevalent in contemporary film scholarship. Kline introduces his work by asserting
that "given the implications of the Orpheus myth for Last Tango in Paris and the director's
own tendency to speak of his work in relation to his own analysis, a psychoanalytical
approach virtually imposed itself on this critical undertaking' (Kline, 1987: ix). By referring
to Bertolucci's assertion that: 'the Greek concept of fate is the unconscious. My unconscious
is the fate of my movies', Kline sees in the character of Paul and his behaviour the Greek
myth of Orpheus (Kline, 1987: 107). The critic perceives Paul as being set on 'rescuing' the
deceased character of Rosa through Jeanne - who is seen as Rosa's double - and both are
interpreted as mother figures; Paul's interdiction of the use of names in his encounters with
Jeanne embodies 'the divine command not to look back', and therefore when he later states
his name as 'Orpheus disobedience', this 'coincides precisely with Paul's ultimate failure at
recovery of his maternal figure' (Kline, 1987: 112). It is difficult to debate this very personal
interpretation of the film, since the fact that Rosa is dead and that Paul has a robust sexual
relationship with Jeanne makes problematic the concept of any 'rescue' of Rosa on Paul's
part, whose conduct is of his own volition and is not dependant on any other entity whether
real or metaphorical. However, even if Rosa - from a psychoanalytical perspective - can be
assimilated into a maternal figure, since she has taken care of Paul and his needs, it is
difficult to envisage Jeanne in the same role. If a parallel with classical literature has to be
drawn, there is more potential in evoking Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy, in the context of
which Jeanne might be envisaged as Virgil guiding Paul/Dante - lost in a existential midlife
crisis - through his personal inferno, with Bertolucci ultimately preventing them from
eventually coming forth 'to rebehold the stars'.(2) hi my analysis of the film, I will posit that
Paul's behaviour is generated by social discontent, and therefore a different motivation will
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