Featuring a dynamite performance from Cate Blanchett that could and should win her another Oscar, Tár is the kind of film that lives with you days after seeing it. It’s a pragmatic, supremely involving character piece that is absolutely one of the best of the year.
Written and directed by Todd Field – the filmmaker behind the likes of Little Children and In The Bedroom, – this is just his third film but has already been nominated for two Academy Awards (at the time of writing) – Tár lands everything it sets out to achieve. From the cinematographer to the production design and flawless acting from a wonderful international cast, the film will have you gripped from the off. The first hour or so takes its time in setting the scene for its journey, chronicling a creative supremo at the top of her game – very much like the actor portraying her.
Set in the present day, very much post lockdown at the Covid pandemic, we follow the composer and conductor Lydia Tár (Blanchett) who is having her career chronicled with a Q+A event put on by the New Yorker. She’s the best in her field, peerless, but things are about to start to unravel. Behind closed doors, there are accusations that are bubbling under the surface, and imminent decisions when it comes to who she’s working with at a prestigious German orchestra that will determine her future.
I knew nothing about the film going in, surprising as the UK release arrives many months after the US release and the massive Venice debut where it was received with rapturous applause and positive criticism. Field’s writing and staging and Blanchett’s performance is so realistic that they would have you believe that they are depicting the life of a real person, though this is entirely a work of fiction. It is a phenomenal work, often powerful and totally engaging.
As well as Blanchett, there is wonderful support from the brilliant Nina Hoss as Tár’s suffering partner, Sharon, who is also her lead violinist. Noémie Merlant plays Francesca, the maestro’s assistant who essentially runs her life, and also a key character to her professional and ultimately personal fate, while there is also a superb performance from Sophie Kauer as Olga Metkina, an emerging violinist joining the orchestra, Tár favouring the young musician much to the annoyance of those around her.
It’s a film that suffers from a lengthy running time and one that has a climax that seems to be a little drawn out. However, so much comes before that that you’re so drawn into proceedings that you don’t give a hoot when the credits finally roll. One of the year’s great movies.
Tár is now on general release.
Tár
Summary
A film dominated by its central performance from Blanchett – yes, those Oscar whispers are more than warranted 0 along with commanding staging from Field. Unmissable.
