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I WILL NOT LET YOU GO UNLESS YOU TEACH ME THE TANGO: SALLY POTTERS THE TANGO LESSON
ULRIKE VOLLMER
University of Sheffield

Sally Potters The Tango Lesson is an autobiographical film about her relationship to tango dancer Pablo Veron. The relationship manifests itself in various tangos throughout the film, and the twelve lessons into which the film is divided are lessons on tango as well as on relationships. Sally and Pablo have a religious connection; Sally says, I feel I am a Jew, and Pablo, I am a dancer and a Jew. At the end of the film, Pablo asks Sally: What does it mean to feel like a Jew? He invites the viewers to ponder anew the film about the tango, but this time in terms of Sallys and Pablos attitude to feeling Jewish. What does it mean to feel like a Jew? A key scene of the film casts Sallys and Pablos relationship in a tango pose that also represents a story from the Bible, which plays an important role in Jewish tradition. Because of its key function as well as its connection to Jewish tradition, this scene is essential to any answer to Pablos question about feeling Jewish. In the scene, Sally leaves a message on Pablos answering machine: I want to tell you a story. Its a Jewish story. Jacob was alone in a valley, and there he met a stranger. They started to fight. They fought and wrestled through a long, long night. But as dawn broke, Jacob realised that he could never defeat the stranger because the stranger was an angel. Or God. Or perhaps, all along Pablo, Jacob had simply been wrestling with himself. 1 After this, we see Sally and Pablo posing as Jacob and the angel in front of a painting of Jacobs fight by Eugne Delacroix (Fig. 1). Sally is a filmmaker, Pablo a tango dancer. Earlier on in the film, they made a deal. If Pablo teaches Sally the tango professionally, she will make a film with him. Just before the scene in front of the painting, Sally has broken off the relationship following a professional tango performance with Pablo. After the per1

S. Potter, The Tango Lesson (London: Faber and Faber, 1997), p. 55.

Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2003 Also available online www.brill.nl

Biblical Interpretation 11, 1

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Fig. 1. Photo Richard Kalvar, Magnum Photos, courtesy of Adventure Pictures.

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formance, however, Sallys part of the deal, the film with Pablo, is yet to be fulfilled. The tango pose in front of the painting separates the fulfilment of Pablos and Sallys parts in their deal. The story of Jacobs fight appears in three different forms in the scene just mentioned. Sally retells the story onto Pablos answering machine, we see Delacroixs painting of Jacobs fight in St Sulpice in Paris and, finally, we watch Sally and Pablo pose as Jacob and the angel in front of the painting. Sally appears in Jacobs position; Pablo represents the angel in the painting, or according to Sallys wordshe is God, or a part of Sally that she is struggling with. The multiplicity of the opponents identity in Potters rephrasing shows her interpretative openness towards the biblical story. This openness remains characteristic also for the following scene, in which Sally and Pablo trickle water over each others faces and then dance in the rain (Fig. 2). Sally does not hold the position of Delacroixs Jacobhead down against the angels chestfor long. Instead, she lifts her head to face Pablo. Some shots that are reminiscent of baptism follow: Sally and Pablo trickle water over each others heads, Pablo appears submerged in water, Sally and Pablo are washed by pouring rain as they dance in the street. The link between these shots and baptism seems evident from a Christian perspective but Potter also establishes it by using the term baptism in her published screenplay in order to describe the sequence.2 Baptism, which is connected with new life and identity, is related to Jacobs fight insofar as Jacob receives a new name respectively a new identity during his encounter. 3 In The Tango Lesson , Potter deals with the theme of new identity, but in a way that differs from the story of Jacobs fight. In the film, both Sally and Pablo are washed with baptismal waters; both are blessed with new identity. In this paper, I will show in what way, in The Tango Lesson, Sally resembles Jacob and Pablo the angel of both the biblical story and Delacroixs painting. But I will also argue for the contraryfor the possibility of Pablo to be Jacob and Sally to become his angel because this possibility of role reversal is essential to Sallys and Pablos way of feeling Jewish. The story of Jacob and the angel occupies a central position in The Tango Lesson not only because
Potter, The Tango Lesson, p. 58. See also J.P. Fokkelman, who describes Jacobs name change to Israel as an order of baptism on the ground that, along with Jacobs name, his guilt, expressed in the name heelcatcher, was also taken from him ( J.P. Fokkelman, Narrative Art in Genesis [Amsterdam: Van Gorcum, 1975], p. 215).
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Fig. 2. Photo by Martin Weber Sanguinetti Clarin, courtesy of Adventure Pictures.

it is edited in between the tango performance and the making of the film but because it has symbolic significance with regard to both dancing and filming. It acts as a key to understanding dancing and seeing and forms, as a metaphor, a pattern of relating that is at work in the dance and the filmmaking. Because the story

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of Jacob renders seeing and dancing meaningful in the context of The Tango Lesson , it is essential, in this paper, to point out connections between this biblical story and the acts of dancing and seeing. In order to understand the film with the biblical text in mind, however, I must first develop an understanding of the story of Jacobs fight. Genesis 32:23-33: Letting Go and Being Blessed 4 I am aware that the passage of Jacobs fight consists of an older part with later additions. I shall, however, treat the text as an entity because it has been kept alive through its representation of aspects of Israels relation to Yahweh, aspects that are developed especially through the added parts.5 I consider Gen. 32:23-33 in its entirety as a text that is enriched by its inconsistencies. The first dialogue between Jacob and his opponent (v. 27) contains two important themes of the narrativeletting go and being blessed.6 Jacob, a man of great wealth, owns people as well as
The following is based on the counting of the verses in the Hebrew Bible. Contrasting this approach, Claus Westermann argues that only the early parts of this text should be considered in an interpretation, while later additions should be left aside. (See C. Westermann, Genesis 1236: A Commentary [London: SPCK, 1985], pp. 512-21). 6 The identity of Jacobs opponent is veiled. This effect is created by various techniques. The text uses the word (man) to introduce the opponent (v. 25b), but refers to him in the following verses with the personal pronoun. Asked for his name (v. 30), he does not reveal it and thus draws the readers attention even more to the fact of his ambiguous identity (see J. Taschner, Verheissung und Erfllung in der Jakoberzhlung (Gen 25,1933,17) [Herders Biblische Studien, 27; Freiburg: Herder, 2000], p. 153). V. 29, where Jacob is said to have fought with God and men, seems to contradict v. 26, where he fights with a man. Furthermore, the text uses the motif of the fight during the night to veil the antagonists identity. The ambiguity of the opponents identity has encouraged a number of interpretations. J.G. Gammie, for example, suggests that Esau is foremost in Jacobs mind when he fights with the stranger (Theological Interpretation by Way of Literary and Tradition Analysis: Genesis 2536, in M.J. Buss (ed.), Encounter with the Text. Form and History in the Hebrew Bible [Semeia Supp 8, 1979], pp. 117-34 (123). The argument for a connection between Esau and the antagonist can also be based on the fact that Jacob, saying he saw God face to face (32:31), uses the same word for face, , that he uses elsewhere to refer to his brothers face (32:21-22 and 33:10). Some authors argue that Jacobs antagonist is God. Fokkelman bases this argument on parallels between Jacobs struggle with other apparitions of God in Genesis (see Fokkelman, Narrative Art, p. 219). For the opinion that the opponent is God see also K. Elliger, Kleine Schriften zum Alten Testament (Mnchen: Chr. Kaiser Verlag, 1966), p. 163 and G. von Rad,
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herds of animals. Jacobs fight occurs before he meets his brother, Esau, who, he fears, might kill him for the wrong Jacob did to him earlier. In this situation, Jacob can only think of saving himself by using his wealth to appease his brothers wrath. Jacob thinks he is self-sufficient and builds solely on his wealth. Spieckermann remarks appropriately, Jakobs Sein ist sein Besitz.7 Contrasting this, Jacobs fight by the river is an exercise in letting go. Vv. 23 and 24 recount that Jacob, during the night, sends everything he has across the river. He stays behind and, separated from his possessions and all alone, is attacked by the stranger. Jacob, whose being was his wealth, lets go of all to fight without protection. Let me go, says the other, but Jacob cannot let him go, for the opponent is all he has left. He will not let him go unless the other blesses him. Jacob receives his blessing in the form of a new name, Israel.8 The new identity shows that Jacob became a different person in the struggle.9 Furthermore, Jacob is blessed with remembrance that is kept alive through the food taboo of v. 33. But just as Jacobs memory through the food taboo is related directly to the injury in v. 26b, so is being blessed close to being hurt. Jacob is marked through the struggle in which he was blessed; marked in that he is pointed out as special but marked also because he is physically hurt. Delacroixs painting, of which the film shows only a part, depicts Jacobs fight as a dance pose. Like the biblical text, the painting describes Jacobs struggle as an experience of letting go. His possessions, people and animals are all on the right hand side of the picture, which the film does not show. Jacobs weapons lie in
Genesis: A Commentary (London: SCM Press; 3rd rev. edn, 1972), p. 324 and H. Spieckermann, Der Gotteskampf: Jakob und der Engel in Bibel und Kunst (Zrich: Theologischer Verlag, 1997), p. 19. Michael Fishbane assumes Jacobs antagonist to be a messenger of God and bases this on the relation of Gen. 32:23-33 to Gen. 28:10-22 (see M. Fishbane, Text and Texture [New York: Schocken Books, 1979], pp. 53-55). Claus Westermann thinks the opponent is a river demon (see Westermann, Genesis , p. 515). I agree with Taschner, who thinks that it is important for an interpretation of Gen. 32:23-33 to maintain the sense of ambiguity that is deliberately created by the text (see Taschner, Verheissung , pp.156-57). Any search for a definitive answer takes the fascination from this text. 7 Spieckermann, Gotteskampf , p. 30. 8 von Rad explains that in the context in which the story of Jacob originated, a name was not given arbitrarily but would have been seen as closely linked to its bearers character. See von Rad, Genesis , p. 321. 9 Spieckermann, Gotteskampf , p. 22.

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a pile on the ground. He let go of everything to the point of fighting with his bare body only. The position of Jacobs body suggests aggression without an aim.10 Frustration and anger seem to lie behind Jacobs attack against the angels chest with his head down. Delacroixs angel withstands Jacobs anger; he looks down on Jacob calmly while absorbing his frustration. He does not fight back but, instead, holds Jacob in his frustration. Spieckermann sees the angels position as a dance hold that transforms Jacobs fight: Der Engel macht aus Jakobs Kampf einen Tanz. Genauer: Whrend Jakob kmpft, tanzt der Engel mit ihm.11

Jacobs Fight and The Tango Lesson When Sally and Pablo assume the pose of Delacroixs painting, Sally poses as Jacob and Pablo as the angel. The similarities between Sally and Jacob and Pablo and the angel, however, reach beyond the tango pose of the painting. Sallys experience, like Jacobs, is one of letting go. At the beginning of The Tango Lesson, Sally works on a script for Hollywood. As director, she would have been head of a whole film crew. Sally is used to leading. When she lets the Hollywood script go because the producers expect changes, Sally lets go of her role as leader of a film crew just as Jacob let go of his people and herds. Sally takes on a smaller project, the film about the tango, but lets go of a big Hollywood budget and the recognition she might have obtained with a mainstream film. Having let go, Sally is faced with her tangoing opponent, Pablo, who will not be led. Instead, he expects Sally to follow him. Sally finds it difficult to follow Pablo in the tango because she is used to leading. This creates tension during two lessons before Sallys and Pablos professional performance. Like Jacob, Sally fights for a blessing. Before she begins to practice the tango professionally with Pablo, their relationship appears romantic. But Pablo wishes to end the romance when they become professional. Let me go, he saysnot literally, but in essence to Sally. But Sally is determined, as though she were to say, I will not let you go unless you teach me the tango. The struggle con10 11

See Spieckermann, Gotteskampf , p. 81. Spieckermann, Gotteskampf , p. 82.

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tinues, and while Sally fights with Pablo, or maybe with her own unwillingness to follow, Pablo teaches her to dance. Like Delacroixs angel, he transforms Sallys fight into a dance. During the tango performance, Sally finds Pablo withdrawn from her. Like the angel, who does not reveal his name, Pablo remains in part unknown to Sally and she complains afterwards, It was like meeting a stranger on the stage. But even so, Sally is determined to obtain her blessing. Having broken off her relationship with Pablo after the performance, she begins it again in order to make the film. Sally is blessed in ways similar to Jacob. While Jacob becomes a different person in the struggle, Sally develops new sides of herself. She, who is used to leading and to doing things herself, from scriptwriting to directing, learns to follow Pablo as a partner in the tango. Also, as a professional tango dancer in front of the camera, Sally becomes visible. Working as a director, she was invisible behind the camera, but as a dancer, she is suddenly looked at. Sally enjoys her new visibility; she wears nice dance clothes and new shoes, whereas earlier, when working on her script, she wore thick socks and unobtrusive clothes. The film about the tango, which makes Sally visible, also safeguards her memory. But like Jacob, Sally will not be remembered without being hurt. Throughout the film, she appears vulnerable and is hurt by Pablo when he suggests they end their romantic relationship, when he forgets the dancing lessons, when he dances with a former partner and when he fails to appreciate Sallys directorial and stage abilities. Sally, like Jacob, is blessed with a changed self and with remembrance but is also hurt in the struggle; Pablo, like the angel, both hurts and transforms Sally. Sallys and Pablos relationship is, however, not cast as a relationship between Jacob and the angel in one way only. While Sally poses as Jacob, she also takes the role of the angel, and Pablo, although posing as the angel, also resembles Jacob. The possibility for role reversal is grounded in the biblical text through the way in which it records the fight between Jacob and the opponent. The two characters appear almost interchangeable in their vulnerability in v. 26. In this verse, it is impossible to determine which of the opponents is referred to because the Hebrew text holds the reader off until the very end before identifying Jacob as the one who is hurt (when- he -saw that he -could [not] overpower him then- he -touched on-the-socket [of the] hip-of-him so-she-was-

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wrenched [the] socket-of [the] hip-of Jacob ). Until the end of the verse, both participants in the fight seem vulnerable. Roland Barthes considers this textual technique as an intertwined style and explains that the identity of the participants is oblique; the legibility is indirect.12 Barthes also points out how the text sets out to differentiate between a winner and a loser by allowing one participant to deal the other an unusual blow, a secret knowledge that will allow him to win. But then the text disappoints by not going through with this differentiation. Instead, there is neither winner nor loser and the participants remain interchangeable even after the end of the fight.13 Also, the motif of the wrestling itself indicates turmoil and confusion. The participants are intertwined not only through the style of v. 26 but also through the physical closeness and confusion of bodies that the image of wrestling evokes. From this point of view, Potters choice for the tango is not coincidental. The tango is characterised by kicks between the partners legs, steps, which make the partners invade each others space. Because the partners cross over the boundaries into the others space, the tango has been seen as a fight between two dancers. The partners in the tango are just as intertwined as the two parties wrestling with each other in v. 26. Although Pablo is posing as the angel in front of the painting, some of his experiencescorresponding to the motif of interchangeability of the biblical charactersare at the same time similar to those of Jacob. Being in the film about the tango is for him an experience of letting go just as dancing was for Sally. If Sally had to let go of her leading instincts, Pablo has to let go of his wish to control his image on screen. Assuming the film to be a continuation of his stage practice, he asks Sally how many dance numbers he will do. Sally answers that the film will differ from Pablos performances in that Pablo cannot choreograph his image but has to trust Sally, who is going to write a story that includes him. Sally even tells Pablo he must cry in one scene, otherwise she will not make the film with him. Pablo, who is used
12 The Struggle with the Angel: Textual Analysis of Genesis 32:23-33, in R. Barthes, et al. (eds.), Structural Analysis and Biblical Exegesis (PTMS, 3; Pittsburgh, PA: The Pickwick Press, 1974), pp. 21-33 (26). 13 See Barthes, Struggle , pp. 26-27. For the opposing view that God is the undoubted winner, see Elliger, Schriften , pp. 162-73.

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to creating his own image by choreographing his performances, must let go of his self-control. Although Pablo has to let go, he is also blessed through his relationship with Sally, even though he does not fight for the blessing as hard as Sally does. Pablo does not receive a new name, like Jacob, but, through the film, he is given a new visuality. The second scene referred to at the beginning of the article shows this aspect of Sallys blessing for Pablo in a metaphorical way. After the mutual baptism, Sally rests her head on the surface of the water and sees Pablo swimming in a foetal position. The sound of a subdued heartbeat suggests the inside of a womb. These images and sounds of birth just before the beginning of the filmmaking come to describe the filming as an act of giving new life, new identity. Pablo is reborn as a film script that adds a new dimension to his personality. Earlier in the film, Sally, not coincidentally, reads Martin Bubers I and Thou . It is interesting that Buber considers the development of a new part of an identity as essential to a relationship. His description of a relationship has similarities to the images of birth in The Tango Lesson : Der Mensch, der aus dem Wesensakt der reinen Beziehung tritt, hat in seinem Wesen ein Mehr, ein Hinzugewachsenes, von dem er zuvor nicht wusste und dessen Ursprung er nicht rechtm ig zu bezeichnen vermag.14 Furthermore, Bubers thoughts on relationships are reminiscent of Jacobs fight with the angel. Although not referring to the story explicitly, Buber uses the word Ringkampf with regard to the relationship that brings forth a new identity: Es geschieht da etwas am Menschen. Das ist zuweilen wie ein Anhauch, zuweilen wie ein Ringkampf, gleichviel: es geschieht. 15 Pablo is blessed through Sallys directorial look. A number of times, the film shows how Sally watches Pablo dancing. His dance becomes more alive when he feels Sallys appreciative gaze resting upon him. He invents new movements, is pleased to be called upon to do a solo, even defies gravity by walking up the wall for Sally. As long as he is sure of her attention, he develops new sides to his dance. Through his encounter with Sally, Pablo, like Jacob, is blessed with remembrance. At the end of the film, Pablo is afraid of be14 15

M. Buber, Ich und Du (Leipzig: Insel Verlag, 1923), p. 126. Buber, Ich und Du, p. 126.

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ing without roots and disappearing without a trace. Perhaps that was why they met, suggests Sally. Indeed, Pablo will be remembered much more through the film than through his performances. In the performances, Pablos visibility is restricted to a short time span and one audience. The film, by contrast, gives Pablo a longerlasting and wider ranging visibility, because film viewings will take place with various audiences. But again, being remembered means also being hurt. If Pablo becomes more visible through the film, he is also restricted to a particular visual shape, namely to Sallys imagination of him. The real Pablo will give way to his image on screen and the viewer will never know how much of the real person the image contains. Pablos image has similarities to the work of art that Martin Buber describes in I and Thou . Before he discusses the work of art, Buber distinguishes two types of a relationship. In an I-thou relationship, it is impossible to describe the other. All that can be said about the thou is that it is present in an exclusive relationship to the I. An I-thou relationship is a moment of recognition that takes over the two partners entirely and is indescribable. As soon as the relationship is describable, it is in the realm of I-it relations, in which the I experiences the other as a thing among other things with certain characteristics.16 On one hand, only an I-thou relation does justice to the other, but, on the other hand, it is inevitable that each thou becomes an it. Buber writes, Das aber ist die erhabne Schwermut unsres Loses, dass jedes Du in unsrer Welt zum Es werden muss.17 The relationship between the artist and the work of art is both I-thou and I-it relation. The origin of art, Buber says, is an artists encounter with Gestalt that wishes to take shape through the artists hands. The work of art is born out of a moment of complete knowing between the artist and the other as a whole, as a thou. The artist feels the desire to realise this vision; indeed, to make visible is the artists unique task and her deed of love and, as the film suggested earlier, to make visible is similar to giving birth. But to create a work of art, to rescue the knowledge of the other as a thou into the realm of the visible is also to create the other as an it, a thing that loses the mystery of the encountered thou
16 17

See Buber, Ich und Du, p. 10-11. Buber, Ich und Du, p. 24.

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and becomes an object to be grasped through its characteristics and through comparison with other objects. The wonder of the original encounter is lost in the realm of representation. The artists act of realising Gestalt as work will render the work meaningful but will take away from the real presence of the thou. Am Werk, says Buber, bedeutet Verwirklichung im einen Entwirklichung im anderen Sinn.18 Thus, the artists act brings about the blessing and the hurt of becoming visible. On one hand, it is Pablos destiny to become visible and memorable. In an act of love, Sally delivers Pablo into visibility. But, on the other hand, the act of love is also one of hurt, because making visible means freezing into one particular image the multiple layers of a person. Sallys love is a blessing that hurts. But even though becoming at the artists hands means becoming an it, Buber has a positive view of the nature of a work of art: Das geschaffene Werk ist ein Ding unter Dingen, als eine Summe von Eigenschaften erfahrbar und beschreibbar. Aber dem empfangend Schauenden kann es Mal um Mal leibhaft gegenbertreten. 19 As an angel, Sally possesses the ease with which Delacroixs angel transforms Jacobs fight into a dance. It is true that she remains mysterious and unknown to Pablo like the angel to Jacob. If Sally accused Pablo of being a stranger on the stage, Pablo finds Sally withdrawn during the filmmaking. You are not here with me. You have become a camera, he says frustratedly. But Sally can take Pablos frustration and transform it. This is how I love you, Pablo. With my eyes and with my work, she replies. The angels dance transforms Jacobs aggression, Pablos tango transforms Sallys anger and Sallys love Pablos frustration. Conclusion What does it mean to feel like a Jew? With the story of Jacobs fight, Potter chose a text that, for many Jews, has expressed what it means to feel Jewish. Jacobs name change to Israel was part of a tradition that interpreted the story in terms of the people of Israels relation to its god.20 In contrast to the emphasis on the
Buber, Ich und Du, p. 24. Buber, Ich und Du, p. 17. 20 von Rad explains Jacobs struggle as a whole, and vv. 28 and 29 in particular, in terms of this tradition: This event did not simply occur at a definite bio19 18

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religious identity of Israel as a people, Potter interprets Jacobs fight in terms of Sallys and Pablos lives as individuals. Sally and Pablo do not feel Jewish in the sense of belonging to a Jewish community. Pablo says he does not feel at home in a synagogue and a visit by Sally and Pablo to a synagogue makes it obvious that they do not belong there. They sit alone at the back and watch the service at the front from afar, almost like an audience. In fact, feeling Jewish, for Sally, is not even about being Jewish in the usual sense of the word. She is not a Jew through birth or conversion; she simply says she feels she is a Jew. 21 What is the attraction in feeling Jewish without being Jewish? Even though this question is not addressed explicitly in the film, I propose an answer. To feel Jewish might, for Sally, be a way of discovering part of her identity by seeing herself as someone she is not, or has not been so far. To see herself as part of Delacroixs painting, as a partner in the tango or as part of the story of Jacob and the angel is for her a way of determining who she is. It is not in a vacuum that Sally finds her identity but in her relations to the context of the painting, to her dance partner or to the other in the story of Jacob. To feel Jewish is a way of determining who she might be within a religious context. In similarity to the visible form of the painting, the bodily pose of the tango and the narrative frame of Jacobs story, Jewishness is a religious context that gives shape and meaning to Sally as a person. Sally is, however, not fully part of the painting, not permanently inside the tango pose, not really a character in Jacobs story, and not Jewish in the usual sense either. She is simultaneously inside and outside each of these contexts, trying them on like the dance shoes that we see her buying in the film. She tries to figure out who she might be by seeing herself relating to different contexts that she tries on like pieces of clothing. The Jewish story of Jacobs fight is important to Sally and Pablo.
graphical point in Jacobs life, but as it is now related it is clearly transparent as a type of that which Israel experienced from time to time with God. Israel has here presented its entire history with God almost prophetically as such a struggle until the breaking of the day. The narrative itself makes this extended interpretation probable by equating the names Jacob and Israel (von Rad, Genesis , p. 325). 21 In a personal letter, Sally Potter wrote that even though she was not Jewish, she was attracted to Judaism and to Bubers work. Judaisms insistence on relation as a portal to the divine seemed to her to express best her experience of the tango.

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Away from the relation between Israel and its god, they take the story as an interpretative model to understand their relationship. This Jewish story influences Sally so much that she has second thoughts about the relationship she has already broken off. The story of Jacob shows her a way to begin again. Sally and Pablo feel Jewish because they understand their lives in terms of this Jewish story. Their re-living of the story includes role reversals. Each of them is both Jacob and the angel just as each of them both leads and has to follow. Thus, The Tango Lesson is about finding identity through relating. The dancing of the tango, seeing and being seen and the wrestling of Jacob with the angel, of Sally with Pablo, are images that describe the search for identity as a relational process. Der Mensch wird am Du zum Ich, writes Buber; the film makes visible Bubers insight by using the dance, the look and the wrestling as expressions of the search for self through the relation with the other. 22 This emphasis on being in relation forms the basis of what it means to feel like a Jew. Jewish identity in The Tango Lesson is not defined in terms of birth or belonging to a congregation but in terms of feeling related. In this sense, Sally can feel she is a Jew even without being born a Jew. But if Sally and Pablo simply understand their lives in terms of a Jewish story, in terms of feeling related, does not their way of feeling Jewish describe a cultural, rather than a religious identity, especially since they can both take the angels place, even though they are human? Sally says Jacob was fighting with a stranger and thus stays with the narratives intention to veil the opponents identity. This shows her uncertainty in situating the encounter. Is it a religious revelation between her and God, or a moment of self-discovery, or both? Sally does not know. Instead, she remains open to the wealth of significance contained in the story. The other in Jacobs fight, in the tango hold and on the other side of the camera could be an angel or part of oneself but may yet be God. Abstract
This paper explores Sally Potters film The Tango Lesson and the story of Jacobs fight with the angel that features in it. The Tango Lesson is not only about the
22

Buber, Ich und Du, p. 36.

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tango and the relationship between the characters Sally and Pablo but also about their search for what it means to feel like a Jew. On this search, Sally and Pablo embody in a tango pose Jacobs fight with the angel as painted by Eugne Delacroix. This pose and the biblical story behind it act as a key to understanding the relationship between Sally and Pablo. In this paper, I show how Sally resembles Jacob and Pablo the angel of both the biblical story and Delacroixs painting. But I also argue that a role reversal takes place in Potters film; that Pablo can be Jacob and Sally his angel. The experiences of being blessed and hurt as well as the importance of being remembered shape not only Sallys but also Pablos life. To feel Jewish, I conclude, does not mean to be Jewish through birth or through belonging to a congregation but to search for a sense of self through a relationship. On this search, the ability to play different roles in different relational contexts is essential.