1998 film by Carlos Saura
| Tango |
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 Theatrical release poster |
| Directed by | Carlos Saura |
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| Screenplay by | Carlos Saura |
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| Produced by | Carlos Mentasti
Luis A. Scalella |
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| Starring | Miguel Ángel Solá
Mía Maestro
Juan Luis Galiardo |
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| Cinematography | Vittorio Storaro |
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| Edited by | Julia Juaniz |
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| Music by | Lalo Schifrin |
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Production
companies | |
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| Distributed by | Líder Films (Argentina)
Warner Bros. (Spain) |
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Release dates |
- 6 August 1998 (1998-08-06) (Argentina)
- 25 September 1998 (1998-09-25) (Spain)
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Running time | 115 minutes |
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| Countries | Argentina
Spain |
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| Language | Spanish |
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| Budget | US$4.6 million |
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| Box office | US$1.6 million (US)[1] |
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Tango (Spanish: Tango, no me dejes nunca, translation: Tango, never leave me) is a 1998 Argentine-Spanish musical drama film written and directed by Carlos Saura and starring Miguel Ángel Solá and Mía Maestro. It was photographed by cinematographer Vittorio Storaro.
Plot
In Buenos Aires, 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 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.
Production
Tango was shown out of competition at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival.[2]
Films directed by Carlos Saura
San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best International Film
Argentine submissions for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film
