Tar

Lydia Tár (Cate Blanchett) is a gifted musician, composer and resident conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic. She is also (as she describes herself) a “Uhaul lesbian” who lives in a fashionable apartment with her partner, Sharon (Nina Hoss), who happens to be the orchestra’s first violin, and their cute (of course) adopted daughter (Mila Bogojevic). Lydia knows she is good,and revels in the adoring attentions of her colleagues and peers who address her in the traditional manner as “Maestro”.  She also is prone to use her reputation to over-whelm young would-be female musicians, not a good idea in these days of #MeToo.

Writer-director Todd Field introduces his eponymous protagonist on the stage of a Manhattan theatre being interviewed by the real-life New Yorker writer, Adam Gopnik, as part of a PR tour to promote her book ‘Tár on Tár’ and the final in her recording of Mahler’s symphonies. Gopnik treats Lydia with the accustomed reverence and Lydia, who claims Leonard Bernstein as her mentor, accepts it as her due.

It is a slightly disconcerting opening to the film, instilling in us the worry that it is going to stay in this self-regardingly rarified atmosphere but take heart, Field will make us witnesses of the oft-cited fall that comes after pride.

When Lydia returns to Berlin to commence rehearsals her nemesis comes in the form of a young Russian cellist, Olga (Sophie Kauer), who auditions for a place in the string section. Lydia immediately sets her cap at Olga despite the fact that not only is her relationship with Sharon already under severe strain, there is someone trolling her online. All this comes to a head when Lydia is implicated in the suicide of a former protégé.

Although not a full blown psychological horror film Field steers the narrative into disquieting territory as Lydia’s home and professional lives begins to crumble and she is beset by worrying sounds and images (I couldn’t help but recall Peter Strickland’s Berberian Sound Studio, 2011).  Her considerable self-esteem is also shaken by fact Olga fails to succumb to her charisma as so many young women have done before her, including Lydia’s current assistant, Francesca (Noémie Merlant), who may be the troll.

Blanchett’s Oscar-nominated performance has been universally and deservedly praised for embodying the steely will and at times, contempt for her colleagues that lies beneath Lydia's icily elegant facade whilst Field convincingly captures the corrosively competitive world of classical music.

 

Want something different?