The Tango Lesson ( La Leçon de tango )

The Tango Lesson (DVD) (*)

Out of Stock

Alternate Title: La Leçon de tango
Screened, competed or awarded at:
BAFTA Awards
Other Film Festival Awards

Language Selections:
English ( Dolby Digital 5.1 )
English ( Subtitles )
French ( Dolby Digital Stereo )
Spanish ( Dolby Digital Stereo )

Product Origin/Format:
United Kingdom ( PAL/Region 2 )

Running Time:
97 min

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen (1.78:1)

Special Features:
Interactive Menu
Music Video
Scene Access
Black & White

Movie filmed in 1997 and produced in:
Argentina ( Latin America, Mexico )
France ( France, Benelux )
Germany ( Germany, Central Europe )
Netherlands ( France, Benelux )
United Kingdom ( Great Britain, Ireland )

Directed By:
Sally Potter

Written By:
Sally Potter

Actors:
Sally Potter ..... Sally
Morgane Maugran ..... Red Model
Géraldine Maillet ..... Yellow Model
Katerina Mechera ..... Blue Model
David Toole ..... Fashion Designer
George Yiasoumi ..... Photographer
Michele Parent ..... Seamstress
Claudine Mavros ..... Seamstress
Monique Couturier ..... Seamstress
Matthew Hawkins ..... Bodyguard
Simon Worgan ..... Bodyguard
Pablo Verón ..... Pablo
Carolina Iotti ..... Pablo's partner
Zobeida ..... Pablo's Friend
Orazio Massaro ..... Pablo's Friend

Synopsis:

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.

A film director, Sally, is agonizing over the visuals to a film called 'Rage,' a $20 million epic on beauty and the glamorization of death. Between writing jags, she attends a tango concert and later approaches the Argentinian star Pablo about taking tango lessons. When maintenance on her apartment forces her to leave, she travels to Argentina were her tango lessons continue. A romance begins between Sally and Pablo as he teaches her the dance and she grooms him for a film role. After a failed trip to Los Angeles where 'Rage' is killed off, Sally accepts Pablo's invitation to dance onstage with him after he splits from his regular partner. Sally's tendency to lead causes problems on the dance floor and in their blossoming romance before their eventual reconciliation.

The director of 'Orlando' Sally Potter chronicles her obsession with the Tango. Playing a female filmmaker who discovers the tango in between bouts of writing a screenplay, Sally places herself under the tutelage of Pablo, an Argentinean tango dancer living in Paris. As her lessons proceed, Sally and Pablo fall in love, and strike a bargain... if he will make her a tango dancer she will make him a movie star. Taking its cue from the golden era of Hollywood musicals, The Tango Lesson stars the internationally acclaimed dancer Pablo Veron and features an outstanding soundtrack with classic tango recordings from the 20s to the modern day, including Astor Piazzolla, Osvaldo Pugliese and Carlos Gardel.

This product was added to our catalog on Thursday 19 September, 2013.