The Tango Lesson

Plot

The film tells of Sally, a filmmaker and screenwriter suffering from writers block. She is dissatisfied with her film project, a murder mystery called Rage, which features the fashion industry. Taking a break, she travels to Paris, where she sees the dancer Pablo (Pablo Veron) performing tango.

She becomes obsessed with the dance and offers Pablo a part in her film in exchange for dance lessons. The two become deeply involved as dancers and as lovers. Their emotional intimacy threatens the success of their dancing together.

The film explores the conflict between the woman dancer accepting the mans lead in the dance, while the man must accept the womans lead in the film. It is a love story and a showcase for Verons dancing.

Cast

Distribution

The film was first presented at the Venice Film Festival in Italy on 29 August 1997. One week later it was screened at the Toronto Film Festival in Canada on 8 September 1997. The picture screened at various film festivals, including: the Mar del Plata Film Festival, Argentina; the Reykjavik Film Festival, Iceland; the Istanbul Film Festival, Turkey; and others.

Film Soundtrack

Exhibition dates

Critical reception

New York Times film critic, Janet Maslin, thought the film was rather simple, and wrote,

"Stiffly playing a filmmaker with a growing passion for the tango, [Sally Potter] makes this a handsome, dryly meticulous film with no real fire anywhere beyond its supple dance scenes. The lessons are numbered and cataloged with an obsessive care like that of Peter Greenaway, but this material has little of his corresponding complexity."

Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert discussed in his review the films major goal, writing, "Most dances are for people who are falling in love. The tango is a dance for those who have survived it, and are still a little angry about having their hearts so mishandled. The Tango Lesson is a movie for people who understand that difference."

Edward Guthmann, San Francisco Chronicle staff critic, lauded the film and the courage of director Potter, and wrote,

"British director Sally Potter stuck her neck out when she made The Tango Lesson, a fictionalized account of her relationship with Argentine tango master Pablo Veron...Potter takes what seemed like a recipe for embarrassment and excess and delivers a film thats sweet and understated and devoid of diva posturing...[the film is] smoothly directed, nicely written and falters only in the performance that Potter was able to squeeze out of herself while performing her multiple tasks."

Yet, Guthmann says Potter should have cast another actor in her role. He adds,

"Its too bad, then, that Potter couldnt have figured out a way to use another actress to play herself. She often looks worn out, which makes sense given her offscreen responsibilities but works against her tale of courtship, infatuation and the emotional sparks that fly between two gifted, bullheaded artists."

Awards