Tango (1993) - film review

When he finds out that his wife is having an affair, a stunt pilot, Vincent, kills both his wife and her lover, but – to his surprise – he is acquitted of the murder.  A few years later, he is approached by the judge (nick-named L’Elegant) who cleared him.  The judge blackmails Vincent into agreeing to kill the wife of his nephew, Paul.  The latter is unable to get on with his life after his wife, Marie, walked out on him.  Vincent, Paul and the judge take to the road, ostensibly to hunt down and kill Marie.

Although the plot sounds rather grim, this is actually rather an entertaining light comedy - well paced, well acted, with some amusing dialogue and – best of all – some exquisitely funny comic situations.  The comedy works particularly well because of the blackness of the underlying plot, playing very cleverly on the irrationality of the central characters.

It would be easy to mistake this for a man’s film – a film by men, with men, about men.   On the face of it, women are cast as the enemy, the manipulators, the unfaithful ones - existing solely to lure men into a life of domestic torment.    However, as the film’s ending shows, none of this is really meant.   If anything, it is the men who come out worse – humiliated by their absurd posturing and weak will (look at how easily Thierry Lhermitte is lured into Carole Bouqet’s hotel bedroom!).

Whatever Patrice Leconte’s intent was, this is an entertaining film which – despite the misogynistic rhetoric tripping off Phillpe Noiret’s lips – manages to explore the complexities of relationships between men and women with some degree of humanity and fresh insights.

© James Travers 2000

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