General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20266 min read

Tango (1998 film)

Tango, released in Spanish-speaking markets as Tango, no me dejes nunca ("Tango, never leave me"), is a 1998 musical drama film directed and written by Carlos Saura, an Argentine-Spanish co-production about a Buenos Aires film director who, abandoned by his wife, throws himself into making a film about the tango and falls into a dangerous affair with the young dancer he casts as his lead.¹^•² The film won the Technical Grand Prize at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for both the Academy Award and the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film.³^•¹

Key fact	Detail
Original title	Tango, no me dejes nunca²
Director and screenwriter	Carlos Saura¹
Principal cast	Miguel Ángel Solá (Mario Suárez), Cecilia Narova (Laura Fuentes), Mía Maestro (Elena Flores), Juan Luis Galiardo (Angelo Larroca)⁴
Key crew	Cinematography Vittorio Storaro; music Lalo Schifrin; editing Julia Juaniz³
Production	Argentina-Spain co-production; Argentina Sono Film contributed 70% of the budget¹^•⁵
Honors	Cannes Technical Grand Prize 1998; Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for Best Foreign Language Film³^•¹
US release	February 12, 1999, Sony Pictures Classics; US gross $1.7 million⁶

Spoilers

Plot

Mario Suárez, a respected Buenos Aires film director, is left by his wife Laura and falls into depression. He takes refuge in rehearsals for his new film about the tango, and his search for a cast brings him to Angelo Larroca, a mafioso cabaret owner looking for somewhere to invest his money. Angelo asks Mario to audition his girlfriend Elena Flores, a young and talented dancer, and Mario and Elena begin a passionate affair that puts them in danger from Angelo, who refuses to lose her.⁷^•³

The film-within-the-film builds through sequences with legendary dancers and musicians, and Mario, reflecting on his own past, stages the era when immigrants, including his own grandparents, arrived in Buenos Aires as a crowd piece. In the climactic rehearsal, one of Larroca's henchmen slips among the dancers and stabs Elena, who dies in Mario's arms; the camera then reveals the film crew shooting the scene, showing that the killing was part of the movie being made.⁸^•⁴

Production

Producer Juan C. Codazzi approached Carlos Saura, the Spanish director already known for musical films built around dance, including Blood Wedding, Carmen, and Flamenco.⁹^•¹⁰ Saura, who said he was raised on the recordings of Carlos Gardel, began by visiting tango bars and milongas in Buenos Aires, buying records and watching dozens of films, and insisted that the film go beyond a conventional musical: "there was no point in making just another musical film." He started without a screenplay and designed the plot to stay simple so it would not overshadow the musical narration, judging that choreography and light were the essential ingredients and that overly naturalistic settings would draw attention away from the dancing.¹⁰

The score and musical direction came from the Argentine-born composer Lalo Schifrin, a former pianist and musical advisor to Astor Piazzolla and creator of the Mission: Impossible television theme, with Oscar Cardozo Ocampo as music supervisor.¹⁰^•⁸ Cinematography was by the Italian Vittorio Storaro, an Oscar winner for Apocalypse Now, Reds, and The Last Emperor.¹¹

Shooting began on June 19, 1997 and lasted ten weeks, partly on location but mostly on a purpose-built set at Baires Studios in Don Torcuato, outside Buenos Aires, which included a new 1,200-square-meter stage. The production imported three Arri Technovision cameras and more than six tons of lighting, sound, and control equipment; post-production ran through Technicolor in Rome, Pinewood Studios in England, and EXA in Madrid. The production notes describe it as the most costly movie ever produced in Argentina.¹⁰ Mía Maestro, then a screen newcomer, was selected by Saura from among two hundred candidates.¹⁰

The Oscar selection controversy

The choice of Tango as Argentina's entry for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film fractured the organizations representing the local film industry. Because Argentina Sono Film held 70 percent of the production and Spain only 30 percent, the film qualified as majority Argentine; producer Héctor Olivera said there was nothing to object to under the rules, but director Lita Stantic resigned from the selection commission because she was not convinced the film was effectively Argentine. Nine of the ten commission members allowed the vote, and Tango was chosen in the first round by a simple majority of six votes to two, with two bodies voting instead for Pizza, birra, faso by Adrián Caetano and Bruno Stagnaro.⁵

Reception

The film premiered in the Special Screenings section at Cannes in 1998, where Storaro won the Technical Grand Prize.³ In the United States, Sony Pictures Classics released it wide on February 12, 1999, and it grossed $1.7 million.⁶ On Rotten Tomatoes it holds a 68% Tomatometer from 22 reviews, with a critics consensus that the film "makes a few false moves, but this dance-driven fantasy steps just the right side of the line between stultifying and seductive"; audience ratings there are markedly warmer at 86%.⁶

Critics divided along a consistent line between the dance sequences and the plot. Roger Ebert, writing in the Chicago Sun-Times, gave it 3.5 of 4 stars and called it "ravishing as a musical, which is really what it is, with its passionate music and angry dance sequences."⁹ Janet Maslin of The New York Times praised the way the film enlists a variety of dancers whose "hypnotic blend of liquidity and fury" burns up the screen, in contrast to Sally Potter's The Tango Lesson.⁹ Marjorie Baumgarten found the narrative loose and thin at nearly two hours but called basking in Storaro's lighting and camerawork a delight to be seized.⁹ Jeffrey M. Anderson of Combustible Celluloid, also rating it 3 of 4, judged most of the dancing scenes accomplished and passionate while finding other scenes, such as the backers' objection to a controversial sequence, clichéd and dull.¹² Spanish critics were favorable; M. Torreiro of El País called it "the best film by Saura in years and one of the best ever made about the tango."¹

Versions and runtime

Reported runtimes differ by source: the Cannes and San Sebastián festival pages list 115 minutes,³^•⁷ the Spanish film archive ICAA lists 117 minutes,¹³ FilmAffinity lists 110 minutes,¹ and US listings give 1 hour 55 minutes.⁶ The film was rated PG-13 in the United States for sensuality, some disturbing images, and brief language.¹²

References

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026