Director: Sally Potter
Starring: Sally Potter, Pablo Veron,
Running Time: 100 minutes
Certificate: PG
Extras: Screen Test, Music Video, Performance in Amsterdam, Pablo At The Airport
THE TANGO LESSON sees filmmaker Sally Potter as herself, delve into the world of the tango. While working on her latest script, Potter seems to have difficulty concentrating. She becomes distracted by marks on the table, or divots in the floorboards. Her story of young models being assassinated is brought to us through bright colour cinematography that interrupts the black and white footage of our main feature. These scenes come as randomly to us as they do to Potter herself.
The main reason for her distraction seems to be her recent love affair for the tango. After seeing a striking performance from dancer Pablo Veron (also playing himself), she approaches him for a lesson. All goes well at first, but as the two begin a romantic relationship things start to fall apart. A battle of power erupts between them, which is represented by the dance itself. As a woman, Potter is expected to follow Veron’s lead. When she fails to do so Veron becomes angry and jealous. Potter, playing herself as a filmmaker, sees herself as string and domineering. This is best represented when a pitch to Hollywood executives ends in the studio heads wanting to make changes to her script. She decides to just abandon the project.
As the film continues the roles of men and women in relationships are questioned. We also wonder if they can successfully maintain a professional and personal relationship. Potter and Veron are certainly not actors. They don’t give bad performances, but one can tell they are most certainly performances. There doesn’t seem to be anything truly natural in how they engage one another. Their dialogue and emoting is passable enough, but luckily the film uses dance as the true vehicle for character development. Potter and Veron are amazing together and every dance scene is hypnotising. Just watching their feet entangle at furious speeds without ever becoming tangled was simply amazing.
Veron is a dancing megastar and it’s no surprise to see why. There are moments when his talent and creativity complete overshadow the film. As he travels with Potter through the airport, he uses the whole building as his instrument. He taps against the stairs, glides along the moving walkway, and forever seems as though he is making it up as he goes along. Strong dance sequences dominate the film but the plot begins to unravel towards the very end. The relationship seems to have its course long before the final credits, making a gap in audience involvement. There are only so many moments of blasé dialogue one can stand “I didn’t choose tango. Tango chose me.”
This is a fascinating watch, especially for those with little exposure to the dancing world. It’s a shame that Potter didn’t draw more parallels between the main story and the film within a film, as those outbursts of colour punctuated the first half of the film so well. After those scenes become absent, there’s only so much Veron can do.
Extras: The extras on this disc are all very short but very sweet. We see the screen tests between Potter and Veron, that were produced to show potential investors their chemistry when speaking and dancing. We get to see Veron practising some of his routines around the airport. These rehearsals are just as good as what made its way into the final film. There’s also a performance from Potter and Veron in Amsterdam, as they toured and did a number of performances to get ready for the film. It’s another great example of their talents.
THE TANGO LESSON is available to buy now on DVD and Blu-ray. Pick up a copy here or here.
