''Tango'' (, translation: Tango, never leave me) is a 1998 Argentine-Spanish

musical drama film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, but in some cases, they serv ...

written and directed by

Carlos Saura Carlos Saura Atarés (4 January 1932 – 10 February 2023) was a Spanish film director, photographer and writer. With Luis Buñuel and Pedro Almodóvar, he is considered to be among Spain's great filmmakers. He had a long and prolific career th ...

and starring Miguel Ángel Solá and

Mía Maestro Mía Maestro (born 19 June 1978) is an Argentine actress and singer. She is known for her roles as Nora Martinez in ''The Strain'', as Nadia Santos in the television drama '' Alias'', as Cristina Kahlo in ''Frida'', as Chichina Ferreyra in '' ...

. It was photographed by cinematographer

Vittorio Storaro Vittorio Storaro, A.S.C., A.I.C. (born 24 June 1940), is an Italian cinematographer widely recognized as one of the best and most influential in cinema history, for his work on numerous classic films including '' The Conformist'' (1970), ''Apoc ...

Plot

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

, Mario Suárez, a middle-aged theatre director, finds himself holed up in his apartment, licking his wounds when his girlfriend (and principal dancer) Laura leaves him. Seeking distraction, he throws himself into his next project, a musical about the tango. One evening, while meeting with his backers, he is introduced to a beautiful young woman, Elena, who is the girlfriend of his chief investor Angelo, a shady businessman with

underworld The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underworld. ...

connections. Angelo asks Mario to audition Elena. He does so and is immediately captivated by her. Eventually, he takes her out of the chorus and gives her a leading role. An affair develops between them, but the possessive Angelo has her followed and threatens her with dire consequences if she leaves him, mirroring Mario's own feelings and actions towards Laura before Elena entered his life. The investors are unhappy with some of Mario's dance sequences. They don't like a routine that criticizes the violent military repression and torture of the past. Angelo has been given a small part, which he takes very seriously. The lines between fact and fiction begin to blur: during a scene in the musical showing immigrants newly arrived in Argentina, two men fight over the character played by Elena. She is stabbed. Only slowly do we realize that her death is not real.

Cast

* Miguel Ángel Solá as Mario Suárez *

as Elena Flores * Cecilia Narova as Laura Fuentes * Juan Luis Galiardo as Angelo Larroca * Juan Carlos Copes as Carlos Nebbia * Carlos Rivarola as Ernesto Landi * Sandra Ballesteros as María Elman * Óscar Cardozo Ocampo as Daniel Stein *

Enrique Pinti Enrique Pinti (7 October 1939 – 27 March 2022) was an Argentine actor and comedian. Life As a humorist, he performed stand-up shows with long monologues on Argentine politics and history, speaking at an extremely fast pace and resorting to a ...

as Sergio Lieman * Julio Bocca as Julio Bocca * Martín Seefeld as Andrés Castro

Production

Tango was shown out of competition at the

1998 Cannes Film Festival The 51st Cannes Film Festival took place from 13 to 24 May 1998. American filmmaker Martin Scorsese served as jury president for the main competition. Isabelle Huppert was the host for the opening and closing ceremonies. Greek filmmaker Theo A ...

Accolades

Wins * 1998 -

Goya Award The Goya Awards () are Spain's main national annual film awards. They are presented by the Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences of Spain. The first ceremony was held in 1987, a year after the founding of the Academy of Cinematographic Ar ...

for Best Sound. * 1998 - Grand Prix Technique de la CST (Vittorio Storaro) at the

. * 1998 - San Diego Film Critics Society Awards for Best Foreign Language Film Nominations * 1998 -

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

Best Foreign Language Film by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. * 1998 -

Golden Globe Award The Golden Globe Awards are awards presented for excellence in both international film and television. It is an annual award ceremony held since 1944 to honor artists and professionals and their work. The ceremony is normally held every Janua ...

for Best Foreign Language Film.

Home media

''Tango'' was issued on DVD by

Sony Pictures Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio conglomerate that produces, acquires, and distributes filmed entertainment (theatrical motion pictures, television programs, and rec ...

in August 1999, in Spanish with English subtitles.

References

External links

* . Video duration 1h 55m 00s. Uploader Escuela De Tango De Monterrey, 2021. Complete Spanish spoken film, with English subtitles. * *
''Tango''
at the

cinenacional.com Cinenacional.com is a web portal and web-based database about Argentine cinema. It is the most comprehensive site for information about the Argentine film industry, with a vast array of information on films, television programs, directors, actor ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tango 1998 films Films directed by Carlos Saura 1990s musical drama films Sony Pictures Classics films Tango films Films shot in Buenos Aires Films scored by Lalo Schifrin 1990s dance films 1998 drama films 1990s Spanish-language films 1990s Spanish films Argentine musical drama films Spanish musical drama films 1998 musical films