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BEING MARIA – Review by Jennifer Merin

Jennifer Merin , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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Being Maria is a revealing truth-based biopic about the life and career of actress Maria Schneider, whose star ascended when she was just 19, after her daring performance opposite Marlon Brando in Bernardo Bertolucci’s highly controversial film, Last Tango in Paris (1972). Director Jessica Palud’s compelling telling of the story shows how Schneider’s risqué role and the fame that came with it impacted young Maria’s future relationships and repertoire. This picture is not one of kudos and glam.

Anamaria Vartolomei’s performance as Maria Schneider, playing opposite Matt Dillon’s Marlon Brando, is indeed impressive. She clearly reflects the young woman’s vulnerability and desire to achieve, and the era’s artsy ethos, while he captures every nuance of Marlon’s disengaged mood. Scenes from the original Bertolucci film are recreated with the same shock impact, but in Being Maria, they are wrapped within the context of how acting in them effected young and trusting Maria. The perspective in the film is hers.

Palud and Laurette Polmanns adapted the script from the novel My Cousin Maria Schneider: A Memoir (Tu t’appelais Maria Schneider) by Vanessa Schneider, who was, indeed, Maria’s cousin. The ambience established by the scenario, direction, set decor and other well executed cinematic crafts has an authenticity that is galvanizing.

In addition to quenching what seems to be an ongoing thirst for showbiz celebrity biopics, Being Maria also serves as a fascinating commentary — a behind-the-scenes primer, if you will — about the French cineastes whose work we so admire. While revealing Maria’s emotionally affecting story, Being Maria also lays bare the exploitation, abuse and disrespect of favorite female actors in the French film industry at a time when #MeToo wasn’t even a ripple let alone a wave.

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Jennifer Merin

Jennifer Merin is the Film Critic for Womens eNews and contributes the CINEMA CITIZEN blog for and is managing editor for AWFJ.org, the online magazine of the Alliance of Women Film Journalists, of which she is President. She has served as a regular critic and film-related interviewer for The New York Press and About.com. She has written about entertainment for USA Today, The L.A. Times, US Magazine, Ms. Magazine, Endless Vacation Magazine, NY Daily News, New York Post, SoHo News and other publications. After receiving her MFA from Tisch School of the Arts (Grad Acting), Jennifer performed at the O'Neill Theater Center's Playwrights Conference, Long Wharf Theater, American Place Theatre and LaMamma, where she worked with renown Japanese director, Shuji Terayama. She subsequently joined Terayama's theater company in Tokyo, where she also acted in films. Her journalism career began when she was asked to write about Terayama for The Drama Review. She became a regular contributor to the Christian Science Monitor after writing an article about Marketta Kimbrell's Theater For The Forgotten, with which she was performing at the time. She was an O'Neill Theater Center National Critics' Institute Fellow, and then became the institute's Coordinator. While teaching at the Universities of Wisconsin and Rhode Island, she wrote "A Directory of Festivals of Theater, Dance and Folklore Around the World," published by the International Theater Institute. Denmark's Odin Teatret's director, Eugenio Barba, wrote his manifesto in the form of a letter to "Dear Jennifer Merin," which has been published around the world, in languages as diverse as Farsi and Romanian. Jennifer's culturally-oriented travel column began in the LA Times in 1984, then moved to The Associated Press, LA Times Syndicate, Tribune Media, Creators Syndicate and Arcamax Publishing. She's been news writer/editor for ABC Radio Networks, on-air reporter for NBC, CBS Radio and for Westwood One's America In the Morning. She is a member of the Critics Choice Association in the Film, Documentary and TV branches and a voting member of the Black Reel Awards. For her AWFJ archive, type "Jennifer Merin" in the Search Box (upper right corner of screen).