In 'TÁR,' Cate Blanchett delivers a tour de force as a musical genius corrupted by power
The film, directed by Todd Field and starring Cate Blanchett, seeks to ignite a conversation about power dynamics, cancel culture and complicity.
Since Todd Field’s newest masterwork, “TÁR,” had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival in early September, the filmmaker and his stars have shared a common message during interviews: It’s cinema’s job to pose difficult questions, but it’s the audience’s responsibility to answer them. The questions asked in “TÁR” — sprinkled through its nearly three-hour runtime — center on power dynamics, cancel culture and complicity.
Field’s titular character, Lydia Tár (Cate Blanchett in a tour de force), is a fictional, world-renowned orchestra conductor with a penchant for power trips and younger women. She’s also the first woman to take the stage as principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, and, thanks to this hard-won success, she has managed to evade any serious repercussions for her morally questionable habits — at least when the film begins. As the exquisitely suited, elegantly coiffed conductor soon finds out, all good things must come to an end and always at the most inopportune times.
With her wife and the orchestra’s first violin, Sharon (Nina Hoss), by her side, Lydia is preparing for a history-making performance of Mahler’s Fifth Symphony and the launch of her memoir, “Tár on Tár,” when things begin to take a downturn. It begins with a few discordant encounters — giving an affected performance at a Q&A with New Yorker writer Adam Gopnik, openly flirting with young accolades, humiliating a student during a masterclass at Juilliard — but reaches a crescendo when her dealing with a former protege, Krista Taylor (Sylvia Flote), becomes a full-on scandal.
Cate Blanchett and Nina Hoss in "TÁR."Focus FeaturesAs things begin to devolve, Lydia doesn’t do herself any favors. She’s not interested in exploring her stance on identity politics — or any other topic. She takes an outsize interest in the orchestra’s attractive new cellist, Olga (newcomer Sophie Kauer), which puts her at odds with the other players during a crucial point in rehearsals. And she goes as far as asking her assistant, Francesca (Noémie Merlant) — who the audience understands to be another former flame — to destroy evidence of her relationship with Krista.
As Lydia overplays her hand, and her personal life and professional success progressively implode, the film does an impressive job of withholding judgment and instead poses a series of questions to the viewer, beginning with: When does power use become power abuse?
Rating: 5