''Tango'' ( es, Tango, no me dejes nunca) is a 1998

musical drama film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the 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 serve merely as break ...

written and directed by

Carlos Saura Carlos Saura Atarés (born 4 January 1932) is a Spanish film director, photographer and writer. Along with Luis Buñuel and Pedro Almodóvar, he is considered to be one of Spain’s most renowned filmmakers. He has a long and prolific career th ...

and starring

Miguel Ángel Solá Miguel Ángel Solá Vehil (born May 14, 1950) is an Argentine actor who has made over 60 film appearances in film and TV in Argentina since 1973. Biography Born in Buenos Aires, Solá belongs to the Vehil's dynasty of actors, eight generations ...

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'', Nadia Santos in the television drama '' Alias'', as Christina Kahlo in '' Frida'', as Carmen in ''The Twilight ...

. 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,'' ''Apocalypse Now ...

Plot

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the Capital city, capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata ...

, Mario Suárez, a middle-aged theatre director, is left 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, 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 which criticises 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 realise that her death is not for real.

Cast

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 as Sergio Lieman *

Julio Bocca Julio Adrián Lojo Bocca (born March 6, 1967) is an Argentine ballet dancer. Bocca spent twenty years as a principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre. From 2010 to 2018 he served as artistic director of the National Ballet of Uruguay, adminis ...

as Julio Bocca * Martín Seefeld as Andrés Castro

Production

Tango was shown out of competition at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival.

Accolades

Wins * 1998 -

Goya Award The Goya Awards ( es, Premios Goya) are Spain's main national annual film awards, commonly referred to as the Academy Awards of Spain. The awards were established in 1987, a year after the founding of the Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sci ...

for Best Sound. * 1998 - Grand Prix Technique de la CST (Vittorio Storaro) at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. * 1998 - San Diego Film Critics Society Awards for Best Foreign Language Film Nominations * 1998 -

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment in ...

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

Golden Globe Award The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of t ...

for Best Foreign Language Film.

Home media

''Tango'' was issued on DVD by

Sony Pictures Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Sony Pictures or SPE, and formerly known as Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc.) is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio conglomerate that produces, acq ...

in August 1999, in Spanish with English subtitles.

References

External links

* * *
''Tango''
at the cinenacional.com {{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