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The film made Schneider a star, although she later accused Brando and Bertolucci of exploiting her. She described the director as “a gangster and a pimp”, likened the experience to being “raped” and said that Last Tango in Paris had taught her an important lesson: “Never take your clothes off for a middle-aged man who claims that it’s art.” Bertolucci, for his part, appeared puzzled by the criticism. “It is true that Maria was very young when we shot the film and maybe she couldn’t articulate what happened,” he told the Guardian in 2003. “So what remains is a confused moment where I am the killer or the bad guy.”
