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Nevertheless, this short film also confirms the evaluation of Bertolucci's work as a whole that
emerges from this investigation, in terms of identifying as a key element of his film -making
the way viewers are placed in positions which are distant from the film protagonists but
which are counterbalanced by a powerful fascination for what is perceived on screen. The
frequency with which this structure is employed represents a genuinely original trait in
Bertolucci's work.
The significance of a director's work can often be evaluated in terms of their
influence on other directors and of their impact on their respective national cinemas and on
world cinema in given periods. The way in which younger directors now explore sex
thematically and stylistically has gradually evolved as a consequence of the work of a number
of European and American directors, including Bertolucci; his realistic portrayals of
eroticism, which started with Before the Revolution, deserve acknowledgement for having
broken the unspoken rule of cinematic self-censorship regarding sexuality. In this context,
Last Tango in Paris seems to have markedly influenced a film like Intimacy (2001), where
Patrice Chereau portrays the weekly sexual encounter between a couple who are unknown to
each other, using an intense, realist style that leaves little to the imagination. The title of
Gabriele Salvatores' film Quo Vadis Baby? (2005) refers to a line uttered by Marion Brando
(Paul) to Maria Schneider (Jeanne) in Last Tango in Paris - a film watched by two tormented
lovers and aspiring actors who are galvanized by constantly rewatching it in a secluded
apartment. A more recent homage to Bertolucci came from the third episode - Ratking - of
the BBC One fiction series, Zen, (2011), set in Rome, which openly drew on the Italian
cinematic style of the late 60s and 70s. For Bertolucci, the episode's cinematic evocations
referred to T)ie Conformist, the makers of Zen using the sets used by Bertolucci in the
sequences depicting Clerici's encounter with his father and with the Fascist minister, as well
as deploying frame compositions evoking the latter sequence. While Bertolucci's impact
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