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‘Tito, Margot and Me’ Review: The Mystery Around a Ballerina and a Diplomat’s Unlikely Marriage Leaves as Many Questions as It Answers


The niece of politician Tito Arias gets at the heart of his surprising 30-year romance with ballerina Margot Fonteyn in Panama’s official Oscar entry.

Admitting in her introductory narration that she wants to distance herself from her family’s political legacy, Mercedes is only motivated to look back upon receiving a letter from a college friend asking if she was related to Tito, after finding an unguarded photo of Fonteyn and Arias together, behind the scenes of one of her ballets. Yet even when the interviewees appear game to discuss Fonteyn and Arias’ more controversial political activities or potential infidelity, a reticence can be felt on the part of the filmmakers about getting too explicit, maybe out of a fear it could be rehashing what’s already out in the public record or an overabundance of discretion. Although Arias and Vidal Frago may lean a little too much into the idea that love can’t be explained, the warm remembrances of the couple and their wilder exploits by family and friends, as if they were trading stories around the dinner table, are likely to inspire a similar feeling of affection that’s hard to put a finger on.

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