31 years is a long time. Of course, this also applies to the film business. That’s how long it took for The Last Tango in Paris to be dethroned by another X-rated film. Pedro Almodóvar achieved this with his outstanding La Mala Educación – Bad Education. However, a little later there was a film with the same age rating that grossed even more money.
The Last Tango in Paris was the most successful film without a youth rating for 31 years – until La Mala Educación came along
If we look at the list of films with the Box Office Mojo highest box office grosses sorted by MPA age rating If you look at it, The Last Tango in Paris is in third place. It was published in 1973 and was a real scandal flick. Especially because a rape scene was recorded for the film with Marlon Brando that did not take place with the mutual consent of those involved.
In 2004, La Mala Educación was released in cinemas and was able to exceed its box office gross of 36 million US dollars by another four million. So after 31 years there was a new X-rated film that could put The Last Tango in Paris in your pocket. Curiously, La Mala Educación In Germany there is a FSK approval “from 12 years” missed, while both films have the highest rating in the USA and are rated for ages 18 and up.
What is La Mala Education about? In Pedro Almodóvar’s highly acclaimed drama we are treated to a convoluted journey into the past. The successful director Enrique is visited by his childhood friend Ignacio. This throws everything into disarray and reopens a lot of old wounds.
Over time, it becomes clear that Ignacio and Enrique were not only friends when they had to go to a monastery boarding school at a young age, but also theirs first shared experiences with intimacy and sexuality have made. There was also sexual abuse in the monastery school and the experiences from back then still radiate into the present.
Already in 2007, another film with a high US age rating was released in cinemas, Lust, Caution aka Danger and Desire by Ang Lee, which was significantly higher at 67 million brought money into the filmmakers’ coffers. So La Mala Educación’s time at the top of this list has been just three years.