Being Maria

5/3/2025

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 change