Throughout cinema history, there have been some iconic nude scenes that have transcended the bounds of the films in which they appeared. Our weekly column Anatomy of a Scene's Manatomy will take an in-depth look at these scenes, their history, their deeper meanings, and their legacy. This week, Robert De Niro and Gérard Depardieu get jerked off by the same woman at the same time in Bernardo Bertolucci's 1900!
Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci hit the big time in 1972 with the release of his still-controversial film Last Tango in Paris, earning critical acclaim and his first brush with awards season glory. The success of the film gave the director carte blanche to do whatever he liked for his follow-up and he went all in with the historical epic 1900. While the term "epic" is bandied about often when describing films that have a large scope and/or lengthy running time, 1900 goes to extremes in both areas with a running time north of 5 hours. If you're wondering how any film with a 5 hour running time ever got released theatrically, the short answer is that it didn't really.
Bertolucci was so impassioned about this tale of his two friends with diverging destinies coming of age in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy—where Bertolucci's family has its roots—that he was completely and totally uncompromising about his vision. Famed Italian producer Alberto Grimaldi was, in fact, so incensed by Bertolucci's insistence that the film not be edited down for a commercial release that he fired the director and produced his own three-hour cut of the film. When Bertolucci saw the cut and Grimaldi's determination to release it, he relented and produced a four-hour version which was released here in the US.
Other countries saw Bertolucci's full cut released theatrically in two parts, but here in the States we never saw a proper release of the full uncut version until it aired on Los Angeles' Z Channel in the early 80s. All of this background is to set up the fact that many of the film's scenes weren't even known about by your average American cinephile until 1991 when the film was finally released in its original version in both a limited theatrical run and on home video. The scene we're looking at today was one of the casualties of the various edited versions we had here in the States and it's a doozy of a scene.
American Robert De Niro and Frenchman Gérard Depardieu co-star as peasant Italian farmers Alfredo and Olmo, respectively, born on the same day in January 1901. Their paths diverge starting in 1917, when Olmo enlists to fight in World War I, while Alfredo stays behind to learn the family's farming trade. Olmo returns from war a changed man and while the two reignite their friendship upon Olmo's return, it isn't long before they find themselves fighting on opposite sides in the battle for Italy's future.
Right around the two-hour mark, the boys have found themselves to be unlucky in love and decide to visit Neve (Stefania Casini), a local prostitute, in hopes of having a threesome with her. De Niro and Depardieu visit her house, strip nude, wake her up, and she begins to tug on both of their dicks as they flank her on the bed. She eventually grabs De Niro's hand and places it on Depardieu's dick, though he overreacts and gets out of bed. In order to calm her down, they offer her some wine, but it triggers an epileptic seizure that obviously renders her unable to complete the escapade...
I can only imagine what it was like to have been made aware of the scene in those fifteen years between the film's initial release and its uncut release. People must have been incredulous over the thought that two of the most well-regarded actors in their respective countries both bared all in bed together while getting serviced by the same woman. It doesn't add up, at least on the De Niro side of the equation, and one can only imagine the accusations of lying hurled at those who had seen the full film and known of the scene's existence. Thankfully, though, we live in a time where the film has not only been restored in full—and remastered in high definition to boot—and we no longer have to sit through a five hour film just to see one scene.
A scene like this would also not be as shocking if it occurred in a modern film, as sexuality on film has become much more fluid in the 44 years since 1900's release. However, it would also likely be just as upsetting to hear that, say, Ryan Gosling and Guillaume Canet had shot a similar scene which was cut from the American version of whatever fictional film we're discussing. So get to it, A-listers! Get out there and get jerked off next to your French counterpart in a movie! It is the 21st century, after all.
Catch up with our other editions of Anatomy of a Scene's Manatomy...
—Two of History's Manliest Men Wrestle Naked in Women in Love
—Ewan McGregor Has Got It, Flaunts It in Velvet Goldmine
—A Pair of Stars are Born in Y Tu Mamá También
—Harvey Keitel Goes Hog Wild in Abel Ferrara's Bad Lieutenant
—Viggo Mortensen is Naked From Every Imaginable Angle in Eastern Promises
—There's No Shame is Michael Fassbender's Dick Game
—Kevin Bacon Steals the Show Going Full Frontal in Wild Things
—How We Met Jason Segel's Dick in Forgetting Sarah Marshall
—Jack Reynor is Uniquely Vulnerable for a Man in Midsommar
—Jaye Davidson Knows All There is to Know About The Crying Game
—David Bowie Battles Rip Torn for Dick Supremacy in The Man Who Fell to Earth
—Al Pacino Doesn't Get In All That Deep for William Friedkin's Cruising
—John Cameron Mitchell's Ass Gives Hedwig and the Angry Inch the Perfect Ending
—Ross Lynch Makes One Sexy Future Serial Killer in My Friend Dahmer
—Rocketman Not-So-Boldly Goes Where Bohemian Rhapsody Refused
