“I wanted Maria to feel, not to act, the rage and the humiliation,” said the director Bernardo Bertolucci in multiple interviews before his death in 2018. He was referring to Maria Schneider, whom he cast alongside Marlon Brando in his 1972 film Last Tango in Paris. The role was meant to be her breakthrough, but an unscripted and brutal rape scene—devised by Bertolucci without her consent and known only to Brando—left her traumatized. Once celebrated for her beauty and bohemian spirit, Schneider’s reputation was tarnished, her voice ignored. She was 19. Now, the story of Schneider’s rise and devastating fall is the subject of a new film directed by Jessica Palud. —Jeanne Malle