Running Time. 2 hours 38 mins
Director. Todd Field
Cast. Cate Blanchett, Nina Hoss, Sophie Kauer, Noémie Merlant, Mark Strong.
Rating. 80%
Following the critical acclaim of his first two films - In The Bedroom and Little Children - and an inordinate 15-year hiatus working on unrealised projects, filmmaker Todd Field returned in 2023 with the dark, sensual psychological drama Tár.
Cate Blanchett plays the eponymous Lydia Tár, a revered conductor who at the height of her greatness is nonetheless dogged by persistent rumours of abuse, specifically accusations of sleeping with young female protégés, then professionally discarding them.
Blanchett delivers a colossal performance. Beyond the impressiveness of being able to carry herself so naturally in extended takes, Blanchett manages to humanise the character while remaining true to her nature. She portrays Tár as intense, egocentric and awe-inspiring, yet awful, loathsome and, at times, ridiculous. Blanchett's physical performance in the final act is especially impressive.
Todd Field's direction is every bit as precise, and equally as unstable as Tár herself, utilising a combination of prolonged scenes and expeditious editing. This creates an ever-increasing sense of foreboding and dread as the film unfolds. The film starts slowly, and the basic story is not hard to follow, but Field reveals elements in a sometimes minimalist fashion, relying on the reading of emails or WhatsApp messages to inform the audience at times. As the film progresses, the unconventional, unravelling narrative structure of the maestro's downfall envelopes you, with a mix of reveals and unanswered questions.
Indeed, Tár is packed with details that reward close attention, not because it’s an especially complex film, but because it keeps its gaze firmly on the main character, mirroring her own self-consumed existence. Field is not fixated on the question of whether women can abuse power too, instead, the director is more intrigued by the dynamics of ego and acclaim. He is not interested in showing Tár's indiscretions, though the film gives us plenty of clues. Instead, Field is more interested in showing us the haunting of Lydia Tár: the screams she hears while running; the ominous ticking of a metronome hidden in a cabinet; the evanescent ghostly figures that haunt Tár not for the guilt she feels, but the fear she has over them coming out and ruining her life. There is a lot to contemplate in hindsight.
As a purely satisfying cinema experience, its fate is somewhat in the hands of the viewer. Every time Field compliments the intelligence of the audience he risks alienating another subset of the audience. Some will be thrilled by the film’s elliptical nature and the amount left up to the individual to work out for themselves. Others will scratch their heads and end the film perplexed. I was the former... ...eventually.
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