In Tár, Cate Blanchett and Todd Field make beautiful music together
With Cate Blanchett as his muse, writer-director Todd Field creates an indelible portrait of intellect and expertise waylaid by privilege
Film Reviews Cate Blanchett
From its very first moments, Tár announces itself as an event. It’s not just another movie—it’s an immersive visual and aural experience. The credits play in full at the beginning, backgrounded by eerie music. It immediately conveys majesty and sophistication. Writer-director Todd Field took this cue from the work of major orchestras, which fits the theme of the movie but also adds gravitas. Even the accent in the title tells us there’s pretension. And when we meet the eponymous character, we immediately understand the significance.
Lydia Tár (Cate Blanchett) is a composer and the principal conductor for the Berlin Philharmonic. She’s operating not only with a peerless skill set, but at the highest level of the cultural pecking order—there are few others in the world, much less her artistic community, with the same name recognition. While being interviewed onstage by The New Yorker’s Adam Gopnik in the film’s opening scene, she reveals she was mentored by Leonard Bernstein—along with several others, real people who help establish the circles in which Lydia works. Intercut with tailors fitting a suit to her precise specifications, it’s clear that hers is a world of refinement, luxury, fame, and most importantly, utmost reverence—as much to her as to the classical music that she conducts.
Lydia teaches at Juilliard, and presides over rehearsals in Berlin. Her assistant (Noémie Merlant) and her wife (Nina Hoss), the latter of whom is also the principal violinist in her orchestra, know her intimately—perhaps even better than she knows herself. Although she’s indisputably a genius, she’s also a narcissist, either dismissing those who disagree with her, or rebuking them in a withering display of intellect. Unsurprisingly, deception and hidden truths seem to be a part of even her closest relationships.
Tár is a film about the artistic process, and the hierarchy of prestigious cultural institutions. As Lydia rehearses Mahler’s fifth symphony for an upcoming live recording—her tenth such symphony, commemorating what she might imagine is her ascent to Bernstein’s throne—she recruits, promotes, and discards musicians with equal authority, even entitlement. Her genius is evident even when she takes a disruptive noise from a neighbor’s apartment and creates a beautiful piece of music from it. She’s sure-footed and in command. At the same time, she abuses her power and position, dismantles anyone who crosses her, and ignores the consequences—for the target of her piercing judgments, and eventually, for herself as well. She’s a dictator, but one whose expertise and intellect is so seductive that she’s able to cajole those around her to do her bidding.
In a great role that might come rarely even for an actor of her stature, Blanchett ferociously tears into this extraordinary—and presumably extraordinarily challenging opportunity. Of course this “ultimate thespian” learned to conduct, play instruments and speak in multiple languages, but what she does here goes beyond study, memorization, or technique. She evidences as much control of her instrument as the virtuosos performing in the character’s orchestra, with an immediacy and rhythmic flow to her performance that manifests both physically and emotionally. The timber of her voice is deeper, her gait is halting and fluid simultaneously, and Field utilizes long takes to highlight her absolute and yet seemingly fully intuitive control in the role. Lydia might be a cruel narcissist, but Blanchett is utterly bewitching. We understand her appeal and are drawn to her, despite all that’s transpiring.
Field’s script doesn’t offer any easy answers to further push the audience toward or away from her sympathies. Dense and full of mysterious clues, it’s a jigsaw puzzle for the audience to solve as they are watching. Meanwhile, Hoss serves as a mirror, making clear on her face all of the things that happen off screen, or that are unrevealed. Every cut to her silently communicates exactly what has happened. Matched with Blanchett, they better give us the full history of their relationship in a few looks and shared embraces than dialogue ever could.
Field, who hasn’t directed a feature for 16 years, returns with just as sharp a focus as before, and even more perceptiveness about the existential questions of the moment. The director who dissected post 9/11 ennui in Little Children (2006) is of course able to tackle the cultural questions of these post pandemic times; not simply a movie about cancel culture or #MeToo, it goes beyond to examine how and why power corrupts in these privileged cultural and hierarchical settings.
And yet, Tár does not tell us what to think of Lydia. She’s the central character, though the film is not told from, or arguing for, anybody’s point of view. It’s a fly on the wall, offering no comment but observing the proceedings with a merciless detachment. And after an exhilarating 157 minutes, its grip feels less like a quagmire than a beautifully unanswered question—a symphony we’ve been equipped to understand, but which refuses to supply a definitive interpretation.
15 Comments
I’m so excited to see this.
Me too! In the Bedroom is one of my all-time favorite movies. I didn’t even read the review; I was just so excited to see this was being released. I thought I’d have to wait until 2023.
I’ve been waiting forever for Todd Field to make another movie since Little Children over 15 years ago. This one looks good, can’t go wrong with Cate Blanchett in a meaty role.
He was attached to adapt Blood Meridian and Purity, and he’s directing the Devil in the White City series. Anything he does is a must watch.
I’m a big-if casual-classical music listener and mid-20th
century to contemporary music is very much my bag so I’m very onboard for this.
The classical field is legendary for the atrocious behavior of composers and
especially conductors (although there are many wonderful exceptions) so this
sounds fascinating.This will be my first film in a theater since the pandemic hit.
It’s not about classical music — it’s about celebrity, cult of personality, and power. Setting it in the classical music world, which most viewers will not be familiar with, gives it a bit more distance from real world events so that audience doesn’t become fixated on trying to guess if it’s about a certain disgraced film producer, musician, actor, etc. However, there is some commentary on how classical listeners and critics do heavily fall into the trap of cult of personality and live in the past. Those in the classical music know will recognize how certain aspects of Tar are clearly based on Karajan, that remarks here and there came from famous conductors like Toscanini, and that Todd clearly knows his stuff (such as Curtis and Eastman bristling at the claim that Julliard is the best U.S. conservatory).
immediately conveys majesty and sophistication-The AV Club
“Why are we shooting her like this?”
“All the good cinematographers are hiding from Alec Baldwin.”
Woohoo, new Todd Field! I can still feel the SLAP from In The Bedroom. Looking forward to this.
“The timber of her voice”‘Timber’ is wood! You’re looking for ‘timbre’.
Todd Field is so incredibly talented. I thought I’d be dead before he made another film.
Tár is a film about the artistic process, and the hierarchy of prestigious cultural institutions.With all due respect, Mr. Elfadl has missed the point of the film if he thinks this is what it’s about. Tár is a film about celebrity worship, cult of personality, and the power that stems from them. It could have just as easily been about a pop singer, actor, film director, etc. Virtually nothing would have had to be changed if Tar was an EGOT winning director who had just begun pre-production on a film that everyone was already certain would be an Oscar contender. The genius of the film is that by setting it in the classical music world which most people know nothing about, and thus probably expect higher standards — despite some very public recent scandals, such as James Levine — it shows how universal these issues are in our culture. In fact, Mr. Elfadl and other critics haven’t thought enough about why it is that the film opens with the full credits. Opening credits tend to name the major players: actors, producers, writers, lead technical people, etc. Tar gives us everything that comes at the end of the film, all of the people who make important contributions to the production but remain nameless because few people watch the end credits. Field is commenting on how with any big work of art, whether it’s a film, play, concert, etc., the lead artist gladly takes the lion’s share of the credit, and we the audience gladly play along with this lie, that everything happened because of their singular force of will and vision, that there weren’t hundreds of people helping out in the background. While there’s some specific lampooning of the classical music world — Todd clearly knows his material — it’s not about it. If you know nothing about classical music and your eyes glaze over during some of the longwinded speeches, that exactly the point — and why late in the film an old clip of Bernstein is shown explaining things without any of the pretentiousness and self-aggrandizing.
Excellent comment. Just came out of the film, and it absolutely is not about the artistic process. The biggest question in my mind, why Lydia Tar is portrayed as such a hyper masculine figure, isn’t even mentioned by this shallow review.I can’t say I liked the film, but it is an interesting depiction of arrogance, narcissism and abuse of power, and Blanchett is always worth watching even when she’s completely alienating.
Excellent comment. Just came out of the film, and it absolutely is not about the artistic process. The biggest question in my mind, why Lydia Tar is portrayed as such a hyper masculine figure, isn’t even mentioned by this shallow review.I can’t say I liked the film, but it is an interesting depiction of arrogance, narcissism and abuse of power, and Blanchett is always worth watching even when she’s completely alienating.
It might sound odd, but I think this movie would make a fantastic double feature with Weerasethukal’s Memoria. Both brilliant with absolutely stunning central performances.