THE essence of tango lies in its stillness and control, the absence of any overt emotion and an intense discipline in all body movement. The best scenes in Carlos Saura's Tango, accordingly, are those which show proficient, often elderly, tango dancers performing in long-established Buenos Aires clubs. As a couple slowly and silently communicate their intentions to one another (the woman often doing so with her eyes closed), the effect is extraordinarily erotic. Although there can be sudden spasms of rapid movement, generally each sequence of steps is executed at an almost stately pace. But probably the most abiding feature of Tango is the angst of the middle aged man, at once absurd and self-deluding. Dance in the film takes second place to the male menopause. After opening credits set against an aerial view of early morning Buenos Aires, Saura's alter-ego Suarez examines the copy of a script for a musical which he is directing. When shown, the sections of this project make it look suspiciously like an Argentinian version of Riverdance, with a similarly simplistic approach to history. There is a long section devoted to the horrors Argentina endured during the years of military dictatorship: Choreographed ranks dressed in khaki military chic recall the "Springtime for Hitler" sequence of The Producers.

The sight of dancers running around the stage looking faintly pained (as though a small stone had been lodged in the toe of their shoes) does little to convey the awfulness of dictatorship. This only proves how easily dance can become overblown with a sense of its own ability to convey complex ideas to the audience - the late Kenneth MacMillan's dreadful historical ballets had already demonstrated the medium's limitations in this respect. Not that this is noticed by Suarez, referred to as "the maestro" by other characters throughout the film. "People want simple things, nothing complicated," says one of the project's backers, to which he grandly replies "I won't put up with interference". He is portrayed as a man in torment. As if the loss of his lover is not sufficiently awful, he has also recently had a car accident leaving him limping; and then there are all those terrible worries that any great artist must endure. Middle-aged he may be, but much younger and more impressionable women still find him irresistible. This allows for plenty of indulgent exchanges between Suarez and the female lead in his show as he worries over what he has achieved with his life and whether it has had any value. "You can't say that," she lovingly rushes to reassure him, "You've done wonderful things." Suarez (whose words, remember, have been scripted by the similarly-named Saura) is also given to ludicrous pensees, such as the notion that "imagination is the guard-rail that stops you plunging into a pit of horror". Really?

The Borges-like conceit, when eventually revealed, is that this is a film within a film within a film, not the most original of approaches, nor done with any great finesse here, but nonetheless a device which goes some way to reveal the worst silliness. So too do sections of the dance, although by no means all of it - a lesbian dance sequence, for example, seems to serve no purpose whatsoever except perhaps to indulge a middle-aged male libido. Much of the dance is balletic in concept and therefore contrary to the essential character of tango. At least some of its spirit is projected through the gorgeously colourful, back-lit stage settings - shot by Vittorio Storaro - against which many of the dancers are silhouetted. On the other hand, the music throughout the film frequently conveys the discipline and stately pace of tango better than the dancing provided by Saura. In fact, music is unquestionably what best survives the director's assault because it is least liable to interference. That and the few clips from old tango films, including one showing Carlos Gardel, the Argentinian singer who died in 1935.

Tango will be screened on Wednesday, April 21st at 6.10 p.m. at Virgin.

Other Spanish films showing in the Europe in Focus programme are: Lovers of the Arctic Circle (Saturday, April 17th) Torrente: the Dumb Arm of the Law (Saturday, April 17th) Caresses (Monday, April 19th) Tree of Cherries (Tuesday, April 20th) Mararia (Wednesday, April 21st) The Girl of Your Dreams (Friday, April 23rd)