Last Tango in Paris - Plot

Plot

Paul (Marlon Brando), a middle-aged American hotel owner mourning his wife's suicide, meets a young, engaged Parisian woman named Jeanne (Maria Schneider) in an apartment that both are interested in renting. Paul and Jeanne proceed to have an anonymous sexual relationship in the apartment, and Paul demands that neither of them share any personal information, not even their names. The affair goes on until one day Jeanne comes to the apartment to find that Paul has, without warning, packed up and left.

Paul later meets Jeanne on the street and says that he wants to start anew with their relationship. He proceeds to tell her of the recent tragedy with his wife, and the telling of his life story carries them to a tango bar where he continues telling her about himself. The loss of anonymity disillusions Jeanne about their relationship, and she tells Paul she does not want to see him again. Paul, not wanting to let Jeanne go, chases her back to her apartment where he tells her that he loves her and wants to know her name.

Jeanne takes a gun from a drawer. She tells Paul her name and shoots him. Paul staggers out onto the balcony, mortally wounded and collapses. As Paul dies, a dazed Jeanne mutters to herself that he was just a stranger who tried to rape her; that she did not know who he was; as if in a rehearsal, preparing herself for questioning by the police.