 The boom of Italian cinema, which gave Bertolucci his start, slowed in the 1970s as directors were forced to co-produce their films with several of the American, Swedish, French, and German companies and actors due to the effects of the global economic recession on the Italian film industry.Bertolucci caused controversy in 1972 with the film "Last Tango in Paris", starring Marlon Brando, Maria Schneider, Jean-Pierre Léaud and Massimo Girotti.The film presents Brando's character, Paul, as he copes with his wife's suicide by emotionally and physically dominating a young woman, Jeane (Schneider).