The Tango Lesson

The Tango Lesson
Theatrical release poster: Potter and Verón dance below Jacob wrestling with the angel by Eugène Delacroix
Directed bySally Potter
Written bySally Potter
Produced byChristopher Sheppard
Oscar Kramer
Starring
  • Sally Potter
  • Pablo Verón
CinematographyRobby Müller
Edited byHervé Schneid
Music byFred Frith
Sally Potter
Distributed bySony Pictures Classics
Release date
  • 29 August 1997 (1997-08-29) (Italy)
Running time
101 minutes
CountriesArgentina
United Kingdom
France
Germany
Netherlands
LanguagesEnglish
Spanish
French

The Tango Lesson (Spanish: La lección de tango) is a 1997 drama film written and directed by Sally Potter. It is a semi-autobiographical film starring Potter and Pablo Verón, about Argentinian Tango. The film, a co-production of Argentina, France, Germany, Netherlands and the United Kingdom, was produced by Christopher Sheppard in Britain and Oscar Kramer in Argentina, and was shot mostly in black and white in Paris and Buenos Aires. The soundtrack includes original recordings of Carlos Gardel's Mi Buenos Aires querido and Ástor Piazzolla's Libertango, two of the most iconic tangos in the history of the genre. It also includes an original song written and sung by Potter.

Plot

Sally, a filmmaker and screenwriter suffering from writer's block, 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 Verón) 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 man's lead in the dance, while the man must accept the woman's lead in the film. It is a love story and a showcase for Verón's dancing.

Cast

Distribution

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

Film soundtrack

Exhibition dates

  • Argentina: 20 November 1997
  • France: 8 April 1998
  • Germany: 9 October 1997
  • Netherlands: 15 January 1998
  • United Kingdom: 28 November 1997
  • United States: 14 November 1997

Critical reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 52% of 23 critics' reviews are positive. Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 65 out of 100, based on 6 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

New York Times film critic, Janet Maslin, thought the film was rather simple, writing: "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 film's 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 Potter's direction, 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 that's 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." In terms of criticism, Guthmann suggested Potter should have cast another actor in her role.

Awards

Wins
Nominations

References

  1. ↑ "The Tango Lesson". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 26 February 2025. Edit this at Wikidata
  2. ↑ "The Tango Lesson". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved 26 September 2026.
  3. ↑ Maslin, Janet (14 November 1997). "Filmmaker Falls for The Tango in Paris". The New York Times. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
  4. ↑ Ebert, Roger (19 December 1997). "Reviews: The Tango Lesson". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on 3 May 2008. Retrieved 26 September 2026 – via RogerEbert.SunTimes.com.
  5. ↑ Guthmann, Edward (25 December 1997). "film review, "Sally Potter's Elegant 'Tango,' romantic tale's only misstep is director as lead". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 18 January 2008.
  6. ↑ "39º Festival Internacional de Cine de Mar del Plata". Festival Internacional de Cine de Mar del Plata (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 8 September 2024. Retrieved 26 September 2026.
  7. ↑ "1997 Archives". National Board of Review. Retrieved 26 September 2026.
  8. ↑ "The President and Mrs. Clinton Honor His Excellency Carlos Saul Menem, President of the Argentine Nation". Archived Presidential White House Websites. National Archives and Records Administration. 11 January 1999. Retrieved 26 September 2026.
  9. ↑ "Film Not in the English Language". Bafta. Retrieved 26 September 2026.