The Tango Lesson
Director: Sally Potter.
Sally Potter, the director of Orlando, brings us this quasi-autobiographical story of a woman’s passionate and turbulent relationship with the tango and one of its exponents.
Sally P, played by Potter, is a British writer and director working on a new script — with difficulty. On a research trip to Paris, she sees the Argentinian tango master Pablo Veron (playing himself) perform and she persuades him to give her lessons. What eventuates is a deal: Pablo will make Sally a tango star if Sally will make him a movie star. But in the passionate, sensual world of the tango, their relationship crosses over from the professional to the intimate, leading to clashes of character — it takes two to tango, but one must lead and the other must follow.
Potter seems to have taken a rather brave step in turning her real experiences into a script, and in a so obviously personal way, even leaving the names and performers of the key roles unchanged. The Tango Lesson is a beautiful film with fine cinematography and soundtrack, and is imbued to the core with a love of the tango. The only weak points in the film are the poor performances of Sally and Pablo (at least when speaking in English) and the actual amount of dancing — if you don’t love the tango, you may feel a bit overloaded. Nevertheless it is definitely an experience worth paying for, if only to see Pablo Veron make a salad!
David Bednarczuk
