1. Last Tango In Paris (1972)
The tale of an American man in Paris called Paul whose wife has just committed suicide in an extremely bloody way, he meets a young woman called Jeanne and they begin a highly charged sexual relationship. The relationship is based upon anonymity - they don't know each other's names or personal histories. However, after a while Paul wants to end the anonymity and he tells Jeanne all about himself. She is repelled by this and tries to get away from Paul but he follows her to her apartment and she shoots him. The film doesn't actually sound that cheery, but it is enlivened by several scenes. Paul (played with full conviction by Marlon Brando) calls his dead wife a 'pig f**ker', initiates Jeanne (Maria Schneider) into the world of buggery aided by some butter and gets her to stick her finger up his anus while they are having sex. He also exhorts her to have sex with a pig in his memory. Last Tango in Paris is a monumental film. It set new heights of sexual explicitness in cinema, ushering in a new liberal age of sexual frankness. It does, however, stand alone as a brilliant film - dark and moody, sexy and profound. Director Bertolucci narrowly escaped an obscenity charge in his native Italy. Originally an X certificate, the film was rated R in 1981 with a heavily edited version with all the fun removed from the film. Ultimately re-rated and handed an NC-17 certificate in 1997, Last Tango in Paris had similar bans and harsh ratings meted out to it worldwide.