Blue Hour Tango Time 1988

Directed by Alexander Kluge

The story of the Argentine tango star Carlos Gardel is retold in a (computer graphic) theater in which his 1935 movie is projected. If the tango is "a sad thought one can dance," then we are offered the spectacle of romance as compensation. The battle of the Marne and the cooling towers of an atomic plant provide the context of the desire for "a new beginning." "At last, at last" lovers clinch and "FIN" appears on black. Gardel was killed in a plane crash about the time his film was released. The appearance of Valentino among the enormous crowds at Gardel's funeral is a reminder of what depths of emotion were attached to a similar personage, not so foreign and obscure to us.