Being Maria

In an age when rights and protections for women are increasingly being placed in jeopardy, their preservation is imperative, and nowhere is this more apparent perhaps than in writer-director Jessica Palud’s latest feature. In this flashback to a time when things were very different for women, the filmmaker places the spotlight on the sexist, demeaning demands that were placed on actress Maria Schneider (1952-2011) (Anamaria Vartolomei). Schneider’s big career break came at age 19, when she was cast opposite screen legend Marlon Brando (Matt Dillon) in “Last Tango in Paris” (1972), the highly controversial hyper-erotic feature from director Bernardo Bertolucci (Giuseppe Maggio). What should have been a tremendous opportunity for the aspiring actress turned nightmarish when Bertolucci changed the nature of the film’s ending without informing Schneider of what it entailed, a move allegedly aimed at getting as “natural” a performance out of her as possible. Shockingly, that change in plans resulted in one of cinema’s darkest and most disturbing moments, when Schneider was subjected to a degrading act of debasement that affected her deeply, not only as shooting was wrapping up, but also afterward in both her professional and personal life. Her reaction was indeed “natural” in that it evoked severe fear and anguish in her (and among audiences) as it played out, ostensibly depicting an act of rape that appeared so authentically that it was difficult to believe it was merely simulated. In the wake of this outrageous atrocity, many filmgoers scorned Schneider for lascivious on-screen behavior (none of which originated with her), and she was subsequently only offered roles primarily built around the perception she was little more than a sex object, developments that Schneider spoke out about publicly but was quickly silenced by the movers and shakers in the male-dominated movie industry. In turn, these incidents troubled her so profoundly that she sought refuge as a heroin ad...