ABSTRACT
Fernando S o lan a s’s Tangos: el exilio de Gardel (Gardel’s Exile) (1985) marks his return to Argentina from exile in France (it is a FrenchArgentine co-production) after the return of democracy. The film deals with a group of Argentines exiled in Paris who attempt to produce a show which they call a ‘tanguedia’ (a neologism created for the film that combines tango, tragedy and comedy). Juan Uno, bandoneon (see acco r d io n an d bandoneon) player and composer, anxiously awaits the libretto, which he is expecting Juan Dos to send from Buenos Aires so that he can complete the show. Obviously the film is allego rical; the tanguedia, Juan Uno and Juan Dos represent the internal and external exile that Argentina lived through during the military dictatorship (1976-83). Yet far from falling into propaganda or tan g o melodrama, the film is a nostalgic evocation in which feelings, memories of everyday life and the fantasies of each protagonist carry the weight of the narrative. The reasons for exile cease to matter; what counts is what exile signifies, the distancing of affection, the rootless children, the difficulties in adapting to another culture, the sensation of living permanently in limbo, the insubstantial hope of returning home. In exile what grows in memory are the echoes of popular myths which address three kinds of exile: the exile who had to leave and could never return (like General San Martin); the person who did not leave his country but was driven out of his own world into internal exile (Enrique Santos D iscepolo); and the nostalgia for Buenos Aires represented in the popular imaginary by Carlos G ardel. If the text of the tanguedia that Juan Dos sends out on paper napkins has no ending it is because exile still continues. If the order of the texts seems chaotic, it is because cit is not disorder, but a different order’, as Juan Dos would say. In constructing his film, Solanas respects this reality principle within the narrative of the tanguedia. Musical numbers, posters that anticipate events, songs making ironic comment on the plot are some of the key elements of a narrative patchwork sewn together by Maria, the narrator who presents the characters and reflects upon them.
