Looking for art cinema involves identifying moments when the style interrupts the narrative and draws attention away. It also highlights the role of the film. In order to make an art film intrusive, it is important to use unusual camera movements and angles. Also, the unreality of the lighting and the settings are also used. In order to integrate the content into an ongoing story, art films ask us questions. For example, flash forwards would be unheard of in classic cinema. The audience will be forced to reflect on the storyline as well as the film in order to solve a ‘puzzle’. Art cinema targets a niche market, so more complex films are acceptable. The audience is likely to be seeking something that makes them think. Art cinema has to include conventions that audiences can understand easily. Otherwise, the genre would not survive because audiences depend on familiarity in a film for escapism. But art cinema challenges audiences in a unique way, which makes them more aware. In this essay, we will examine the relationship between art cinema and The Tango Lesson and Performance, both directed by Sally Potter in 1997.

The Tango Lesson follows a typical new wave style, with a focus on the importance of dance as well as the relationship between dancers and their art. As it is an art film, the cinematography is also experimental as this is what the audience is expecting. By using minority representations, the film encourages a more open-minded audience interpretation. The audience is required to take an active role in these films, as they are likely to present a political or ideological agenda. The Tango Lesson is one example of a film that makes many comments about the fact that female directors are not welcome in Hollywood. These remarks are a commentary on Hollywood being a male dominated industry. It is the use artistic moments that make the audience feel the film to be art cinema. Examples of these moments are the use mirrors for reflections of characters or moments. The use of job-style interviews to communicate with characters and audience is also a way of expressing meta-textual nature of the film.

At this point, the audience is left to solve a puzzle as the film switches from black andwhite to colour. The film follows Todorov’s narrative structure but ends softly with nothing really resolved or concluded. Art cinema is known for its deliberately confusing start, where the audience must solve a puzzle to discover that Sally is a film maker. Hollywood is more traditional and defines the character roles in the first scene. It is also a Flexi-narrative, which means that the audience will have to concentrate on the story. Pablo, in a film scene, is offended by the word work because he wants to take part in art. This is atypical as in mainstream movies the roles are reversible. A woman will be seen as an artist and a guy as just working. This could confuse the audience because they’d have to work out why roles have been reversed as well as the unconventional functions of the characters. Pablo is clearly the dominant male character. His desire to control the situation is what is expected of a film. However, when contrasted to an equally confident female character like Sally, Pablo shows an insecure characteristic that may confuse the viewer. Sally Potter’s role is “passive” in the Tango. She uses her dancing to express herself, either deliberately or unintentionally. Pablo tells Potter to subvert her own will, feelings and energy, which in turn creates tension, making the tango flow. The film emphasizes this when Pablo scolds Potter repeatedly for “doing a lot” and tells him to “let it go”. She seems to be unable, however, to meet his demands. This shows that she hasn’t fully surrendered to him. The second one suggests that each character is more complex and has different characteristics and personalities.

Sally is the woman who subverts the male gaze and uses it to her advantage. The dance teacher becomes her muse. Mulvey described this as changing the male gaze from a gaze of a man into one of feminism. The teacher is insecure because her body language indicates that she has control. As stated earlier, the story and the character roles develop with the progress of the film. The film portrays characters in a subversive and oppressive way, which may seem ‘puzzling at first’ but is revealed towards the end. The back-and-forth arguments in the film indicate a complicated relationship. Sally’s and Pablo’s constant argumentation suggests that they are both actively trying to have control over one another.

Performance is a film about a violent, repressed homosexual gangster, who flees the mob to the Bohemian house of an ex-rock star. In reality, however, it is much more complex, tackling issues such as politics, gender, sexuality, and government influence at the time. Chas goes from a narcissistic homosexual to an openly liberated one in the film’s final minutes. Chas’s liberated sex with Dana is displayed in a soulless, pyrotechnic display during the opening sequence. While Chas’ sexuality is the focus of the film, his homosexuality has a deeper agenda. Art cinema challenges the audience by asking questions about their perceptions of characters and presenting them with a variety of options. The politics of performances are not about parties or governments, but the real exploitation of classes. England is portrayed as a country that is enthralled by a cynical and vicious ruling class. Although they may have different languages and social classes, the lawyer and gangster share a common goal of exploitation, which is only seen on streets and in offices. The only place that is not under this control, however, is the home. This is where sex takes place and drugs are consumed. Music can also be heard in the home. The concept of the film is not obvious until you deconstruct it and examine its politics. Art cinema is known for this, but it can be confusing to the audience. Once they understand these ideologies and their visual representations, there is an increased appreciation for the film.

The last shot of the performance is crucial because it generalises everything. It indicates that during the course of the movie, the film moved from a strictly realistic level to a pure allegorical one. Turner appears in a car passing the camera. Chas is seen getting into the Rolls-Royce from the rear. The shot then cuts to a high-angle close up of the street, Central Park West. It continues when the car enters Central Park. This ending confuses and makes the audience question the location of the film, especially since the film was filmed in England. Unlike Hollywood, art films tend to leave their endings open for interpretation. They are a puzzle that audiences can solve. The audience is responsible for the film’s final minutes, as the camera penetrates Turner’s skin and shatters Borges’ image.

The soundtrack of this film is one of its most significant and influential aspects. Jack Nietzsche’s non-diegetic score is not composed or a collection found songs. It mixes disparate, impure and unrefined musical forms. The audience becomes aware of their position in the film structure. It is a modern music video. Turner is portrayed as a self obsessed musician, better than Chas. His songs also reflect the culture of that era. It is clear that art-films are akin to classical narratives in that they pose questions to help us fit the material together into a structure. Roeg is known for his style of editing, which is centered around montages. Also, the colour red is used to signify and represent blood in the movie. This results in a movie that has no spatial or temporal awareness because the audience gets so caught up in the explicit images, sex and drug use. The scene where Chas and his entourage are escorted away from Powis square has a reversed shot. This is all done to confuse audiences.

Art cinema alienates the audience because what’s being said and what the audience sees can be totally different. The audience will not feel the same satisfaction as they do with mainstream films until the director and film have solved the puzzle. It’s evident in performance, where the narrative’s only purpose is to confuse. When characters have multiple personalities they make it hard for the audience follow the story. It is difficult to tell which character is protagonist or antagonist. Each character can also become both at one point. Subjective realism means that characters are shown with a focus on their mental state. This is because art film heroes lack the clear characteristics and motivations of mainstream Hollywood films.

The emotional state of the characters is portrayed through techniques like posture, convert glances and facial expressions. Turner’s constant but subtle glances towards the woman in Performance are evident. In Performance, Chas’s hallucinations are shown through subjective images. The Tango Lesson is a film that is designed to make the audience confused. Performance is the same. This confusion draws the audience in and makes them think and engage further with the story. A film that is deemed art cinema will have an audience that enjoys solving puzzles while watching it. Cinephiles are identified by their knowledge of a film and the passion they feel for it.

The audience must solve a puzzle. ‘An art movie is the construction and narration that becomes the object for spectator hypotheses’. There is still room for audience interpretation, which is evident in both films. This idea that audiences are solving a puzzle’ is very exciting. It may be the key to the film’s success. People like being challenged. They enjoy familiarity and elements, such as London or Los Angeles.