La leçon de tango

`Tango is like chess for your feet' Sally Potter claimed during the publicity for this, a film that she wrote, directed, and starred in as a tango dancing director called - strangely enough - Sally. Like the screen Sally, the real Potter also learned from Pablo Veron, also her co-star. If only the film was as cogent and searching as her intelligent definititon of a fascinating dance!

As a keen tango dancer myself, I was eager to see the committed to celluloid the intricacies of a dance which is part improvisational game, part physical conversation, and as much an exercise for the mind as for the body. A lot of work goes into becoming an excellent and effortless `tanguista', and there is much more to tango than most people realise.

Turning her story into a roman a clef, does not make it experimental or postmodern, as appears to have be intended, but in fact regresses to the self-referential musicals of yesteryear such as `Singing in the Rain'. As long as there has been art, there has been art about art, and art about creative blocks. Though such an approach can create masterpieces (such as Fellini's 8 1/2), it can also create ponderous excuses for not creating original art.

Worse still, it can come off as an act of monstrous narcissism. Potter is a stunning dancer, and it is understandable that she wished to play the main role on that count, but in all other respects she is merely adequate (and her singing, in the final scene, quite inadequate). Potter berates Veron in the film for not trusting her to be lead by him; by not trusting another actor to play her part, Potter is doing exactly the same thing.

Thus the film plays out like a rather dull overheard conversation that one might idly listen to on the bus but not miss once you reached your stop. Tango is a dance in which the female must follow unquestioningly, adding little of her own input, occasionally stepping back to let the alpha male shine. The tensions that this has with a woman who is a film director and feminist, used to leading and guiding, rebelling against traditional roles of male and female, might have been fascinating. Instead, it all seems a playful act of revenge against Pablo: in film, she gets to lead, not him.

Though tantalising ideas leap out from time to time (the influence the tango had on her creativity is something touched upon but unfortunately not explored), and as always her visuals are sumptuous, I found the film a disappointment overall.

Sally Potter is always a very original film fact-totum. In this film much more: Not only she write, direct, play and music the film, but she has given both herself and film to the Tango, that is the only true Star.The story is so thin, the characters are so light, the scene are cold, they seems only fills-in. Only the danced frames are full of inspiration and passion. The words are substituted with Tango (and its music), and also a classic scene like the separation at the airport became magic.

How much is true, and how much is fiction? That is the genius behind this quiet movie. And as a viewer you yearn to know the answer to that question. A little gem by screenwriter, Sally Potter. Hats off!

I have read a lot of commentary on this film. Then I went to the director's website (Sally Potter) and I read her comments.

I was so into this movie. It started out slowly and I wasn't sure if I was going to stick with it. But as it went on, I was totally drawn in. I love the fact that the director chose to film it in black and white which only added to the artistry of it. I loved the fact that she as the director, and making it autobiographical, allowed us (the audience) a peek into her creative process. I also love the fact that she courageously placed herself into the hands of another artist to learn the tango. I was impressed when I read that Sally Potter had a background as a dancer so it came naturally to her to appreciate and learn the tango.

This movie impressed me on many levels because as a creative talent it takes courage to cross over into the world of another artistic discipline (how easily could a dancer cross over into the world of a film director? you see my point). Or maybe that's not a fair comparison. But to me its literally a case of walking a mile in another man's shoes. Perhaps we find it easy to stand on the sidelines and criticize the work of an artist (be it an actor, director, dancer, writer, etc.) but is it hard to come up with creative visions? Not bloody likely.

I viewed this film as a metaphor for life, relationships, artistry, etc. all of which had parallels in the film. If this sounds too deep, it is, believe me! I saw all of this and more in this film.

It also felt as if Sally Potter is going through an autobiographical and artistic midlife crisis in this film which has given me courage to put myself on the line autobiographically and artistically. There was some criticism that she should have cast someone else in the title role, but when you can't see anyone playing yourself, but yourself, how can you answer even this kind of criticism?

Bravo Sally! I appreciated the peek you gave the audience into your creative process.

This uncommon film will test your ability to perceive at different levels, on the surface it only portraits what it seems to be a weak plot and the subplot of a movie within a movie, but that are not the points of this movie in my estimation. In another level there are the metaphorical aspects of the Tango (being a dance form born in the gutter motivated by raw instincts and erotic sensuality) versus the all unending male/female quest for love and understanding.

This is not the typical follow me through the plot and visuals movie, but instead is about an atmosphere of sound and silent body language, spoken through the haunting sounds of a Bandoneon, lost in the sorrow of its own world. The poetic images and symbolisms are all there for those who can see them, but you need a sensitive and willing heart to find them. Like one of the characters says in the movie `You have to have suffered a lot to understand Tango'. Those who are still too attached to their egos will only see the surface, you have to let yourself go and then you will see.

This microcosm of the world of relationships is enveloped in ravishing music and dance, all this tinted with subtle erotic overtones. It is not about the obvious, it is about the inner beauty or not of its characters, and their quest for communicating and understanding love. I find Sally Potter to be the perfect match in every way to Pablo Verón character's ego and abilities. This is a lesson indeed to teach those who live only in the shallow surface of today's society, that real emotions run deeper than the tan of their skin or their "look". To love and to feel is hard work and not just good looks. And to understand a "Tango" you have to dance it, and here they dance it as best as I have seen it on film. And you have to ask yourself. When was the last time you truly held or were held in some one arms in a dance floor at such close distance with such passion? (And I don't mean sexuality as it is imposed commercially in everything now a days).

This is a dance of kindled spirits and of two hearts who are emphatic on their pains and joys in their path through life, which see the world so differently but are ultimately united by their passion for the Tango, and to me, here is the real lesson. As it has been said, `You really need two to Tango!' and especially when the lesson is about love.