TÁR Movie Review

“TÁR” is a treasure and in a year with several incredible female actors showing us the best they have, it’s hard to make this next prediction, but I think Cate Blanchett, here in the role of maestro Lydia Tár, just may be taking home each trophy there is for best actress.

Working at the Berlin Philharmonic when we meet her, Lydia Tár is at the height of her career. She’s so magnificent, she has even achieved the coveted EGOT, a scarce thing. EGOT stands for Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony awards. Watching her here, I can see Blanchett one day accomplishing the same things Lydia Tár has. If conducting an orchestra was on her bucket list, she’d be one of the best.

Tár speaks of individual people hearing the same music very differently. She hopes that the students she teaches will understand that it’s up to them to interpret the music for them. As some things have been going roughly in her personal life, she has little patience these days and students make for satisfactory targets when she needs to release some steam. Max (Zethphan Smith-Gneist) is an easy mark in a particularly sensational scene. He not only poorly directs at the podium and bounces his leg at the piano, but he also doesn’t like Bach! She can’t take it… blaming what’s wrong with him on social media, the “architect of his soul.” This scene is incredible in that you see what a master she is but how fragile, inappropriate and fallible she can be.

It’s after this that we see her conducting. Boom! Out of nowhere comes this beautiful music, with her looking fabulous and focused while holding and confidently swinging her baton through the air with conviction. She is one of the best in her field and when she’s at work, you tell she’s well aware of that fact.

We also see her at home with her wife, Sharon (Nina Hoss), and their daughter Petra (Mila Bogojevic). The walls in their home are concrete, which symbolizes the coldness that all who enter will receive from the maestro… especially Sharon lately, a violinist in her orchestra. Lydia saves some appreciation and goodwill for Petra, but most of her love goes to the music and her well-being. Interestingly enough, most of the time, she walks around a bit of a wreck. Still, everything, even her clothing, seems to warn people to keep their distance.

Writer/director Todd Field (In the Bedroom, Little Children) allows Blanchett the opportunity to, in a layered technique that throws you, embody this woman who demands perfection from everyone around her. She thinks the worst of others, attempting to hide from them the fact that it is she who is not doing well and is breaking.

The character Field has created maintains the dance for a while, but when the façade splits, no one is quite sure who Lydia is anymore. She becomes paranoid and is driven by suspicion and despair. When she aims her attention on something, generally the muse of the moment, she is only watching out for Lydia. She never considers anything or anyone else, especially if it comes to getting in touch with feelings.

This is a phenomenal story and a noteworthy character study. Where it takes Lydia and the performance of Blanchett will leave you in awe, hoping that Field and Blanchett will work together again soon. See this in the theater and see it soon… then turn around and see it again.