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The Tango Lesson Details

1997 Certificate PG
  • Rated:
  • 50
  • from 899 members

Maverick filmmaker Sally Potter, who won acclaim in 1993 with the gender-bending, history-warping Orlando, returns to her dancing roots with The Tango Lesson. Potter wrote, directed, and starred in the film, also assembling the soundtrack, dancing, and even singing the film's final song. Potter was trained as a dancer in London .. Read more

Starring Sally Potter, Pablo Veron, Caroline Lotti, Olga Besio
Director Sally Potter
Genres Music/Musical

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The Tango Lesson

Maverick filmmaker Sally Potter, who won acclaim in 1993 with the gender-bending, history-warping Orlando, returns to her dancing roots with The Tango Lesson. Potter wrote, directed, and starred in the film, also assembling the soundtrack, dancing, and even singing the film's final song. Potter was trained as a dancer in London in the 1970s before turning to film. Here, she plays Sally, a character who is essentially herself. Sally is a screenwriter suffering from writer's block and dissatisfaction with her own project, a murder mystery movie called Rage which focuses on the fashion industry. To take a break, she travels to Paris, where she sees the dancer Pablo Veron perform the tango. She becomes obsessed with the dance and offers Veron a part in her film in exchange for lessons. The two become deeply involved as dancers and as lovers, and their emotional intimacy threatens the success of their dancing together. The film is shot mostly in black and white, except for some dream sequences in which Sally fantasizes about her film project. Veron performs many modern dance numbers, including tap and ballroom dancing, as part of his tango repertoire.~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

Starring Sally Potter, Pablo Veron, Caroline Lotti, Olga Besio, Carlos Copello, Geraldine Maillet, Morgane Maugran, Katerina Mechera, Gustavo Naveira, David Toole
Director Sally Potter
Studio ARTIFICIAL EYE
Run time DVD: 1 hr 37 mins
Certificate Certificate PG
Genres Music/Musical
Language DVD: English, French, Spanish
Released DVD: 25 Jun 2001
Production year: 1997
Format DVD
  • Critics' reviews (3) of The Tango Lesson

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  • 2 stars out of 5

    Supreme self-indulgence on the part of British writer/director Sally Potter. She plays herself, taking a break from writing her latest screenplay to attend a tango exhibition. So struck is she by the super-sexy rhythms, that she reshapes her film around the dance and the man who teaches it. This is the film about that film. The idea of dispensing with the distinction between life and art is interesting, if not exactly original. This film looks good, and moves well, but you're still left thinking of a certain emperor and his new clothes.

    • Radio Times
  • A playful film about dance, which blurs the line between fact and fiction; ultimately, it means more to its director and star than to any audience.

    • Halliwell's Film Guide
  • Most helpful member's review of The Tango Lesson

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  • 8 out of 10 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 1 star

    Put this in the Maybe pile...

    I am glad I got this movie out on DVD. I would not have wanted to waste a whole cinema trip on it. The photography was great, the dancers were great, the music was great; but I really felt that Sally Potter let herself and her movie down badly. If it had not been for her slow and tortured performance and the awful song at the end I would have wanted to buy this movie to keep.

    The content was great but it could have been so much better. I would still recommend it, if only for the dancing of Veron and the others.

      • Chameleon from Hampshire
  • Most recent members' review of The Tango Lesson

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  • 4 out of 6 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 1 star

    Dull and self indulgent

    My friend and I sat down to watch this film and kept waiting and waiting and waiting for the film to get interesting.

    Sally Potter is not riveting to watch and the film lacked passion. A boring diary of someone’s desire to learn to dance. We were disappointed. None of the actors in the film held our attention. In fact the film was so self indulgent that I have now lost credibility as a friend who selects good films.

      • carmen05 from london
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899 Member ratings
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100
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103
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122
  • 50
97
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112
  • 30
97
  • 20
111
  • 10
52

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