"It is a love story that takes place with a mixture of nostalgia, humor and tenderness. It is the story of two tango dancers, although they could be flamenco. It is the story of three beings who meet their happiest past, but also with the dullest and that's what makes this film universal". This is how Darío Grandinetti sums up Empieza el baile, his latest film, a road movie directed by Marina Seresesky that takes place through the most beautiful Argentine landscapes and that today reaches Spanish screens.
Grandinetti gives life to Carlos, an old tango dancer who lives his maturity peacefully in Madrid with his family. One day he receives a call from Argentina. Margarita (Mercedes Morán), his former dance partner and also his former sentimental partner, has passed away. Against the opinion of his wife, Carlos returns to his country to attend the funeral. There he meets Pichuquito (Jorge Marrale), who used to accompany the tango couple on their tours at their moment of maximum fame and splendor. Together they undertake a trip from Buenos Aires to Mendoza. Like old times.
Tango is one of the protagonists of Empieza el baile, something that Grandinetti considers logical, because "tango generates a lot of admiration throughout the world, it is a feeling that is danced", the actor pointed out in an interview with La Vanguardia during the recent Malaga Festival. Like Carlos and Margarita "there were many couples who traveled and had international recognition, big stars like Mijaíl Barýshnikov or Liza Minnelli approached them and now it is something that remains alive and is liked by young people," he adds.
But it is not an easy dance, because "there is no choreography, it is a dance that is improvised, the movement of the feet is clean, the woman lets herself go, but in a way that allows her to dance, she does not just do what the man wants. It is a dance of dedication and mutual trust and that generates a sensuality that makes people believe that the tango couple is also in real life".
You can tell that Grandinetti is passionate about talking about tango, but he also seems comfortable talking about politics. Carlos returns to an Argentina plunged into crisis and that is another of the elements of Seresesky's film: "The situation in Argentina is marked by a huge debt accumulated by the previous government that, fortunately, left three years ago," he explains. the actor. Mauricio Macri lost the 2019 elections and Alberto Fernández took over as president.
"In Argentina, we are suffering from the covid pandemic, war, inflation and the rise of the ultra-right as in the whole world. Overcoming all that being satellites of the great powers is complicated. But the Argentine economy is growing and working for equality. With the new government we are a little better, but, of course, it has to face all these difficulties," sums up Grandinetti.
The actor, who divides his work time between Argentina and Spain, fondly remembers the filming of Empieza el baile in the southern summer of 2022: "It was very hot, we were still subject to the covid protocol and we had to do tests all the time. Then when we got to Mendoza, it was raining and cold, but we enjoyed each other a lot, we had a good time."
Grandinetti has also been divided between cinema and theater, but at this moment he prefers movies, because the stage "enslaves me in a way that I cannot assume, since now I live between Madrid and Buenos Aires." He has filmed in Barcelona and the Basque Country and in May he will participate in a series in Seville and to end the talk he recalls that his great success was given to him by the cinema: "I made Talk to her, which was the perfect film. The script by Pedro Almodóvar won an Oscar. I had the feeling that I had participated in a work of art."
