Tár

In 2015, Cate Blanchett gifted us with her Oscar-bait performance as a lesbian in Carol. In in 2022, she’s back with Tár, another Oscar-bait film where she plays a lesbian. But that’s where the similarities end. First off, Tár’s story isn’t really about Blanchett’s character’s sexuality. That’s a secondary factor in this character study. Second off, the lesbian Blanchett plays in Tár is just a shit human being.

Blanchett plays Lydia Tár. Tár is a very esteemed female conductor. At the start of the movie, Lydia is on top of the world. She’s a standout in her field and is ready to embark on the last of a 9 symphony series with the Berlin philharmonic orchestra. But things begin to fall apart. A former mentee of Lydia’s commits suicide. Teaching a guest class at Julliard proves that Lydia’s traditional, brash and often thoughtless attitude is out of touch with the hyper-conscious youths. Moreover, Lydia’s orchestra employs a new, young cellist named Olga. Olga becomes just the next in a line of young women Lydia takes a special interest in.

I went into Tár ready to see Cate Blanchett play truly the worst human being for two and a half hours. But that’s not quite what Tár is. Her character undoubtedly sucks. But there’s nuance and subtlety too. For every scene of Lydia somehow being a shit person, there will be a scene of her being a good mother or looking out for her aging mentor. I went in wanting to see a character with exactly one trait: toxic. But Tár instead is a complex character study of a woman who yes, sucks. But she also has other things going on to.

What makes the film so watchable in a subtle train wreck fashion is how Lydia implodes her life with her own actions. The situations and problems Lydia finds herself in usually have ways through them if only she would make good choices. But Lydia obviously never makes good choices. She instead opts to be combative, secretive or predatory. Much as Lydia built herself up to her level of success, it’s also entirely her actions and responses that bring about her ruin.

I’ve seen some critique wondering why this film about a successful woman in a male-dominated industry had to make her awful instead of inspiring. I’m personally of the opinion that the former opinion is silly. What Tár shows is how positions of power corrupt without prejudice. Lydia’s gender and sexuality don’t really matter to her. She never stops herself from preying on young women because that wouldn’t be feminist. At the position of power Lydia is at, she can no longer see the full humanity in anyone but herself. Her initial flaws coupled with her position of power make her a figure who couldn’t be anything but a shitty and problematic person. And it’s a more interesting, nuanced character and film because of this.

My main critique of the film is when it delves overtly into online cancel culture and the youths. Lydia destroying her personal life is an expertly crafted story line. But the moments of her getting heat on twitter and in person from millennial students feel like much less finely honed. Moments involving young people and the internet belie writer/director Todd Field’s age. He knows young people are socially aware, entrenched in identity politics and terminally online. But there’s a lot of details I know as a millennial that he misses. Tár is still one of the most nuanced depictions of cancel culture I’ve seen in a film. But I’m thankful that aspect is a subplot because even the moments we get show Field’s inability to understand the phenomenon in anything more than broad strokes

Tár is such a great showcase for Cate Blanchett. The technical aspects are all meticulous and Field has created a great character. But it’s Blanchett who brings it all to life. There’s so much more subtly to Tár than I expected. This is an exceptional character study of a woman who is awful, but in a way that feels complex and real.

Overall rating: 8.4/10

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