It will certainly surprise Patrice Leconte's devotees if I tell them that Mick Jagger, the front man of the Rolling Stones is a professed fan of this French author. So, Sir Mick Jagger, if you haven't seen this one "Tango", I can recommend it to you (and of course to the aficionados of its creator) with, however a little reserve. Coming after a chain of pearls such as "Tandem" (1987), "Monsieur Hire" (1989) or "le Mari De la Coiffeuse" (1990), "Tango" is a little below them as regards quality.
Because he knows that his wife deceives him with her lover, Vincent (Richard Borhinger) kills both of them but against all odds he's acquitted by a misogynous judge rightly nicknamed "l'élégant" (the smart man) (Philippe Noiret). In return, he persuades him (blackmails him would be closer to the truth) to join him with his nephew Paul (Thierry Lhermitte) to go and kill the latter's wife in North Africa. And our threesome embarks on a trip across France, then catches a plane to arrive on their destination. As soon as the three men are together, the film has the accents of a road-movie like "Tandem" a previous Leconte effort and the best in all his filmography. A road-movie shot in a hectic pace and peppered with preposterous meetings and events.
When the film opened in French theaters in February 1993, Patrice Leconte was wrongly accused of misogyny. Its detractors couldn't understand the whole film. Men can't live without women. Just have a look at Vincent: after he killed his wife and after having been acquitted, he seems gloomy. And as for Paul, although he can't stand the idea that his wife is still alive and may live her life with another man, he's undecided about the acting. Even the judge doesn't seem to really hate women. After the sequence when Judith Godrèche killed her husband, he doesn't arrest her and even authorizes Vincent to have a baby with her behind the bushes in the country! Anyway, feminist characters are overall positive so "Tango": a misogynous film? Definitely not...
Earlier in my review, I wrote in my review that "Tango" wasn't at the same level than the other Leconte films I mentioned. Very simply because when our threesome philosophize about the relationships between men and women and why they can't live together, the film becomes draggy and talky. The filmmaker tapped this function on the staple story to beef his film up but when it comes at the foreground, the machine turns without gripping and the interest somewhat wanes. These drawbacks stop the film from taking its place among Leconte's very winners.
But apart from these somewhat intellectual pretensions, "Tango" shouldn't be dismissed all the same. In this entertaining black comedy, the Leconte touch runs throughout the film and should make the fans flock to it. This filmmaker has nearly always the gift to collaborate with peerless scenarists who scatter his films with potent cues. Then, "Tango" shelters strong sequences like the very first one during the opening credits. As a matter of fact, the first twenty minutes during which Leconte indulges himself with two spoofs of "North by Northwest (1959) by Hitchcock could justify the screening of the film. Another strong moment is the one when Noiret acquits Vincent: one can hear his voice but one can't see him. And still from Leconte this taste for the oddball, absurd detail. You have to see Noiret talking to his cat like to a human being or Borhinger fishing with a fishing rod without a line.
"Tango" isn't a new pinnacle in Leconte's career for the reason I previously mentioned but it shouldn't be rejected. Helped by its assets and a three-star cast, Leconte's fans should reassure themselves: they are in well-known lands. For me, Leconte will reach new heights again with his next film, the summery, nearly dreamlike "le Parfum d'Yvonne" (1994) which should have known a better commercial fate than its commercial fiasco.
Because he knows that his wife deceives him with her lover, Vincent (Richard Borhinger) kills both of them but against all odds he's acquitted by a misogynous judge rightly nicknamed "l'élégant" (the smart man) (Philippe Noiret). In return, he persuades him (blackmails him would be closer to the truth) to join him with his nephew Paul (Thierry Lhermitte) to go and kill the latter's wife in North Africa. And our threesome embarks on a trip across France, then catches a plane to arrive on their destination. As soon as the three men are together, the film has the accents of a road-movie like "Tandem" a previous Leconte effort and the best in all his filmography. A road-movie shot in a hectic pace and peppered with preposterous meetings and events.
When the film opened in French theaters in February 1993, Patrice Leconte was wrongly accused of misogyny. Its detractors couldn't understand the whole film. Men can't live without women. Just have a look at Vincent: after he killed his wife and after having been acquitted, he seems gloomy. And as for Paul, although he can't stand the idea that his wife is still alive and may live her life with another man, he's undecided about the acting. Even the judge doesn't seem to really hate women. After the sequence when Judith Godrèche killed her husband, he doesn't arrest her and even authorizes Vincent to have a baby with her behind the bushes in the country! Anyway, feminist characters are overall positive so "Tango": a misogynous film? Definitely not...
Earlier in my review, I wrote in my review that "Tango" wasn't at the same level than the other Leconte films I mentioned. Very simply because when our threesome philosophize about the relationships between men and women and why they can't live together, the film becomes draggy and talky. The filmmaker tapped this function on the staple story to beef his film up but when it comes at the foreground, the machine turns without gripping and the interest somewhat wanes. These drawbacks stop the film from taking its place among Leconte's very winners.
But apart from these somewhat intellectual pretensions, "Tango" shouldn't be dismissed all the same. In this entertaining black comedy, the Leconte touch runs throughout the film and should make the fans flock to it. This filmmaker has nearly always the gift to collaborate with peerless scenarists who scatter his films with potent cues. Then, "Tango" shelters strong sequences like the very first one during the opening credits. As a matter of fact, the first twenty minutes during which Leconte indulges himself with two spoofs of "North by Northwest (1959) by Hitchcock could justify the screening of the film. Another strong moment is the one when Noiret acquits Vincent: one can hear his voice but one can't see him. And still from Leconte this taste for the oddball, absurd detail. You have to see Noiret talking to his cat like to a human being or Borhinger fishing with a fishing rod without a line.
"Tango" isn't a new pinnacle in Leconte's career for the reason I previously mentioned but it shouldn't be rejected. Helped by its assets and a three-star cast, Leconte's fans should reassure themselves: they are in well-known lands. For me, Leconte will reach new heights again with his next film, the summery, nearly dreamlike "le Parfum d'Yvonne" (1994) which should have known a better commercial fate than its commercial fiasco.