La dernière femme

Remember in my review of Going Places I mentioned I've only ever seen one film with more graphic sex scenes? The Last Woman is that one movie. Now, let's separate the men from the boys, so to speak and get the obvious out of the way: This is an X-rated movie. I'd never seen an X-rated movie before, and I thought to myself, "I bet this will be funny!" If any of you are thinking the same assumption I thought, let me tell you that there was nothing funny about The Last Woman. It was X-rated for a reason, and that reason was shown many times. Go ahead and call me a prude if you want to, but I've learned my lesson and will never watch an X-rated movie again. In my opinion, some things are private and should only be seen by the person he's about to have sex with.

So, now that that's out of the way, let's talk about the movie itself. Gérard Depardieu stars as a single dad raising his infant son and pursuing a romance with Ornella Muti, whom he met while picking up his son from daycare. It's a very physically-based relationship, and they break up a few times over the course of the film, only to get back together when Ornella returns to his apartment and takes her clothes off. There's practically an unspoken rule in the apartment that no one's allowed to wear his or her clothes, which is either an attempt for hidden-camera realism or a reinstatement of the main theme that Gérard's character is obsessed with his male prowess. During one of their fights, Ornella shouts, "You're nothing without it!" (according to the English subtitles).

Also according to the English subtitles is the tagline, "Nothing will prepare you for the devastating climax." Please be forewarned by this, as it's entirely true. Besides the ridiculous amount of inappropriate sexual activity in front of the baby and the demeaning nature of the relationship, the end scene is very shocking and upsetting. In case you're watching the movie and wonder if it'll get better or if you should turn it off, I'd recommend you turn it off. No one needs to see what happens in the end.

Kiddy Warning: Obviously, you have control over your own children. However, due to due to graphic nudity, graphic sex scenes, and upsetting content, I wouldn't let my kids watch it.

The good news is this movie features some gratuitous nudity from the beauteous Italian actress Ornella Muti. The bad news is it features far, far more gratuitous nudity from the not-so-beauteous and quite corpulent French actor Gerard Depardieu. This is another slice of Italo-Gallic insanity from director Marco Ferreti. It somewhat resembles his later, more famous film "Ciao, Monkey", but instead of a baby monkey, Depardieu's character has a chubby human baby. But like the monkey in the later film, the male baby is largely a metaphor for the perpetual narcissistic infantilism of Depardieu's character.

Depardieu plays a single father whose feminist wife leaves him alone with their small baby. This doesn't slow down his inveterate womanizing,however, and he soon starts an affair with a young daycare teacher (Muti). It's a little disturbing, especially by modern-day standards, the way Depardieu and Muti engage in naked foreplay pretty much right in front of the baby (although they do have the decency to go into the next room to actually screw). Children that young have little memory, however, so I'm sure the infant actor was much less traumatized by Depardiue's bloated nude body than I was. Anyway, there's a lot of melodrama involving the Depardieu character's continuing compulsive infidelities and his feelings of male irrelevancy in the face of feminism and female sexual liberation. In fact, if the male organ with its insatiable appetites, extreme insecurities, and fickle nature somehow became an actual person it would be just like Depardieu's character in this movie. (So basically, Depardieu here plays a big chubby dick).

As other reviewers have said,the end of this movie is quite shocking-- Depardieu is harpooned by Captain Ahab and he drags him, his ship, and his entire crew to the bottom of the ocean. . . Oh wait, that was "Moby Dick". Well, the end of this movie is even more shocking, especially if you're male. Depardieu does give a very good performance, so I certainly would recommend this to his fans. Muti is not as good (but, oh man, is she beautiful), and this film really marks her transition to the kind of daring art films she is best known for (and without which she'd be a forgotten Italian version of Brooke Shields today) And whatever you can say about Marco Ferreti's films, they're definitely NOT dull. This not great, but check it out if it sounds interesting to you.

All of the reviews so far have missed the mark on this one. The funniest comment is that Depardieu is "corpulent." He doesn't have a six-pack, by any means, but he is not at all corpulent. Even in his later years, he has been, at most, a little chunky. What intrigues me most of all is that none of the reviews mention the creepy fact that a number of sex scenes in this film have a toddler in the middle of them, and that Gerard Depardieu, in a few scenes, spends an inappropriate time exploring said toddler's boy parts. I get that it's supposed to be a comment on some vague Freudian male penis obsession, but it doesn't have to be creepy like that to make such a point (whatever point that is; it's never made clear). It stops just this side of getting the baby involved in the sex, but goes as far as having a swinger fondling party while the baby watches and to have the baby naked on the bed between Depardieu and Muti carrying out some obvious foreplay, to name a couple of disturbing examples. No wonder this one is hard to find.

i have looked for a copy of this film for many years. i was so happy the day i located it and have truly enjoyed it several times.

after seeing it, i could understand why the US would not allow it to be imported. there are many scenes that most will find offensive. most of which involve having a baby around during some of the sex scenes, which are fairly explicit - most with gerard's erection very apparent.

looking past the sex scenes, the movie is great. i truly enjoyed the idea of 'the penis rules the world' and that 'food is the comfort of the world' and how those two ideas combine to create on of the most shocking of all endings.

i will recommend this to all that have a true mature mind and can enjoy the 1970's style sexist attitudes without taking offense. of all of the movies i have in my collection, this is one that i very rarely lend out, i do not wish to take the chance of losing it!

I am a Marco Ferreri fun, this superlative movie has Ornella Muti still young - she became my number 1 for years. I saw it in 1977. I must see this film again with more 23 years on my eyes. Recently I saw "L'Inconnu the Strasbourg" and I felt in love with the new "charm" of Ornella Muti as a mature woman and I cried of happiness. I hope to see her again soon.