TANGO

TANGO (Directed by Patrice Leconte. Starring Philippe Noiret, Richard Bohringer, Thierry Lhermitte, Miou-Miou, Carole Bouquet)

"You dance well for a misogynist," a young woman tells the portly Philippe Noiret as he nimbly steps around a dancefloor. "Who says I'm a misogynist?" retorts Noiret. Just about everyone in the cinema with an ounce of sensitivity, I would imagine, since his character endorsees wife-killing, rattles on disparagingly about women's wiles and chooses a solitary life of masturbation over involvement with anyone who might threaten his self-indulgent bachelorhood. The question that will make many viewers uneasy is whether the director is endorsing or making fun of his misogynism.

Patrice Leconte has explored man's obsession with and fetishisation of the opposite sex as claustrophobic thriller (Monsieur Hire) and sensuous love story (The Hairdresser's Husband). Tango is a mad dance around the whole arena of men's attitudes to women; a robust, off-beat, cartoonish yet philosophical comedy that might be subtitled Men Who Hate Women (And The Women Who Make Them Hate).

In a deliciously comic opening sequence, pilot Vincent (Richard Bohringer) imaginatively dispatches with his wife and her lover. Although patently guilty, the judge (Noiret) lets him off on a point of misogynist principal, then blackmails the remorseful Vincent into murdering the wife of his nephew Paul (Thierry Lhermitte). She has left him as a result of his flagrant promiscuity and now, awash with self-pity, he wants her dead so he can forget her.

As the three men set off in pursuit of Paul's wife, the plot takes stranger and stranger turns, almost losing its way as it evolves into a meandering road movie, kept on track only by crisp playing, hilarious dialogue and Leconte's bravura film-making. To demonstrate the pathetic delusion of the men's attitudes, Leconte introduces a range of beautiful women, each with a more assured sense of their own needs and identity than any of the men. Yet, with a robustly politically incorrect script, Leconte sails as close to the edge as he dares, making this sexist trio such appealingly entertaining company one cannot but suspect that the director has a great deal of sympathy for their warped points of view.

Tango is a delightful black comedy, that takes a couple of steps back for every step forward, daring to be offensive without ever losing its charm.