Matthew (Michael Pitt of "Murder by Numbers") is a 20-year-old American in Paris ¾ living there in 1968 to evade the war in Vietnam and study French and French cinema. The film opens as Matthew descends in the elevator of the Eiffel Tower. You know you’re in the hands of a director who has a unique way of saying things because you do not see the famous landmark. You determine what it is because it can’t be anything else. Bernardo Bertolucci begins to paint the close, intimately detailed portrait of the city and the characters he captures on this canvas.

Matt is a cinephile (film buff) who observes that only in Paris would classic art house films be shown in a museum. He goes there frequently, not just because he loves film but because all of his friendships are superficial and he can lose himself in the anonymity of the audience. When the director of the film center is fired and the students protest in the streets he meets Isabelle (Eva Green), who appears to be chained to an iron fence. Her shackles fall away easily as her deception is revealed; a telling indication of how she feels about ideas without commitment.

Isabelle introduces Matthew to Theo (Louis Garrel), another passionate film enthusiast, who at first seems as if he might be a jealous boyfriend. In fact, he’s her twin brother but we quickly learn they share an uncommon familial intimacy, characterized by provocative nudity and sharing a bed, though falling short of actual intercourse. The world is in turmoil; student riots in Paris, war protests and civil unrest in the US. Meanwhile, this nubile pair, with their poet father and broad-minded mother, welcomes the reticent young American into their apartment and their twisted little vignettes of life, often reenacted from scenes in their beloved films. Bertolucci’s effective method of revealing how Matthew, Theo and Isabelle relate to the world is through classic film flashbacks, in which they often speak the dialogue and challenge each other to recall the film. Some of the clips shown are from "Scarface," "The Girl Can’t Help It" and "Top Hat."

The three-way sexual relationship is not the expected menage a trois. What develops may be even kinkier. So as not to spoil your discovery in the film, I’ll just say that there is a scene regarding masturbation and another where sexual intercourse does occur that is guaranteed to stimulate your thought. Bertolucci’s characters here have an unfettered fascination with bodily fluids.

While Matthew, Theo and Isabelle debate politics and experiment with sex, the world rages outside. Eventually they are all presented with a situation that puts them in a time and place to make a decision about their future. The politics are liberal but not left wing. On one hand the police state is alive and well, yet Matthew argues that the Chinese communists do not have many books, they have only "one book"; a little red one. They are young, pseudo intellectuals. Perhaps naïve but more fixed on their own place in the world, as most of us at that age are.

Retro tracks from Janis Joplin and Jimmie Hendrix help create the mood of the time.

Bernardo Bertolucci is the director that brought us "Last Tango in Paris," "Besieged" and "The Last Emperor." This latest effort is quite provocative. The NC 17 rating for certain was heavily influenced by the frontal nudity here, yet those moments have a short amount of screen time. Eva Green is a very confident young actress whose ability to convey the sexuality she displays is remarkable. This film is clearly meant for adults, but the sexuality apparent in the rating is only partially because of its titillating factors. This is a classic example of why NC 17 should not be equated with porn.

The delay in the release of the film was because it was being cut to get an R rating. The film is what it is because it has not been cut. A case could be made that while this film shows a lot more nudity than any Super Bowl half time show, it’s for a mature audience, which has something to say and do other than self promotion, selling CD’s and concert tickets. At a minimum, the trio shows us that being young and foolish can be a basis of making a better life.