Tár - A review by Guy Malone, Researcher reined in by FilmZ
Full disclosure, this is the 27th movie in which we've seen Cate Blanchett, and though that should make us more objective about her performances, it also has made us huge fans. Director Todd Field wrote the movie for her, and after experiencing it, it's hard to imagine any other actor portraying the coolly haughty, charming, cold-blooded, brilliant musician. It also should be noted that this is an art film. Fields' research and the name-dropping of real-life conductors and events in the world of classical music elicit an almost a feel of cinéma vérité, at times.
The story of Lydia Tár rolls out biographically in an on-stage interview with real-life New Yorker writer Adam Gopnik. In introducing her at a cultural festival, he cites a resume of almost unfathomable achievement: a protege of Leonard Bernstein who studied Peruvian Indigenous music for five years, member of the EGOT club, and at present, conducts the Berlin Philharmonic. She is the most accomplished female conductor ever. The gender differentiation is important because it might be both the wellspring of her uncanny drive and an insight into her narcissistic, masculine wielding of power and control that is, at times, abusive and predatory. All of this under the guise of creating the quintessential performance of Mahler's 5th Symphony.
Lydia Tár's grip is so tight that cracks inevitably appear in both her professional and private worlds. She and her wife Sharon (Nina Hoss), who is also concertmaster, are parents to a sensitive, lonely child Petra (Mila Bogojevic) whom Lydia loves unreservedly. At one point, Sharon observes, tellingly, that Petra is the only person for whom Lydia's relationship is not transactional. Along with Eliot Kaplan (Mark Strong), another conductor, Lydia developed a fellowship program for promising female conductors, but even this altruistic endeavor is an exercise in power and control--as it is a hunting ground for her lustful appetites. Then there is the orchestra itself. We learn that Lydia, as conductor, leads not only the orchestra itself but also the entire production. The power she wields becomes coldly abusive when she dismisses a longtime colleague, manipulative with her loyal but ambitious assistant Francesca (Noémie Merlant), and predatory with a raw, gifted Russian cellist (Olga Sophie Kauer). It is said that evil holds within it the seeds of its own demise, and we see it in Lydia. The musician with such a sensitive ear is aware of this on some level, though she remains so steeped in the classical tradition she remains unaware of the new world of social media that has the power to expose the flaws in the icon.
The film already has won numerous awards, with more presumably to come. Though its 2:39 runtime could have been a little leaner, Monika Willi’s editing is seamless; production designer Marco Bittner Rosser provides a stark, elegant canvas perfect for the atmosphere fields is going for; and cinematographer Florian Hoffmeister brings together a bleak but dynamic portrait. Of special note is the score by Hildur Guðnadóttir (who Blanchett references in the film).
But Blanchett elevates the film. In typical fashion, she relearned piano and learned German and how to conduct an orchestra. She developed relaxed but intellectual American speech patterns which she employs in riveting monologues, most notably in a scene where she is teaching a class at Juilliard; in a single long take, she verbally eviscerates an arrogant student with casual ease while at the same time enriching the knowledge of his fellow students. It seems unfair to single out any performance in a career of brilliant performances, so, we'll just say that Blanchett's Tár stands with her best, and that makes the film can't miss.
9.0 out of 10
