Tár: Movie Review

Cast: Cate Blanchett, Nina Hoss, Mark Strong

Director: Todd Field

How you feel about Tár will largely depend on how you feel about an icily-detached MeToo style movie that's anchored by a thunderous lead actor, but feels aloof throughout.

Blanchett is Lydia Tár, a conductor whose musical and intellectual prowess is a lightning rod for brilliance but also for battery as she treats everyone around her with contempt or antipathy.

Days away from recording a symphony that will catapult and complement her career, Tár's world is rocked by a momentous personal moment that causes it all to threaten to unravel. As she delves deeper in, the tightly wound levels of control she had appear to be coming apart.

It's not that Tár won't appeal to a mainstream audience, it's more that its intellectual approach to over analysing each scene will possibly alienate many. The film begins with a long discussion about what motivates a conductor, in which Blanchett ably holds court, and provides an insight into her view of the intellectual and her general haughty approach to life.

It's here the polarisation starts as the film starts to build to a crescendo from then on, with elements conspiring on screen to try and capture audiences and provide debate later on. But in Field's exploration, despite close ups of various characters and overly heavy dialogue, there's little feeling of getting deeply in tune with the goings on. 

As elements of A Ghost Story feel like they make themselves more prevalent in later parts of the movie, Tár suddenly pivots into something that proffers more interesting elements - is it delusion or is it reality? Both collide subtly together, but don't quite coalesce in the final mix.

Blanchett is thunderous throughout, and it's easy to see why she's won plaudits for this - it's the kind of role some critics and some awards voters die for - very actorly, very scholarly, and very in tune with the character.

It's never anything less than her show, in more ways than one - it's just  a shame that Field makes the musical moments so incredibly rote that not even Blanchett can elevate them as the movie hurtles toward its cancel culture ethos.

Ironically, Tár is a well-orchestrated movie that through its 138 minutes feels overly constructed and ultimately constricted. It's a must-watch for the arthouse brigade, but it may leave others completely cool and slightly underwhelmed with its icy edges.