Susan Granger’s review of “Tar” (Focus Features)
Cate Blanchett delivers a powerhouse performance as an acclaimed concert conductor/composer in Todd Fields’ revelatory “Tar.”
Our first glimpse of Lydia Tar (Blanchett) is a tall, slim, confident woman, stylishly dressed in a black suit and crisp white shirt, luxuriating in her celebrity while preparing to take the stage in Manhattan for a New Yorker talk with writer Adam Gropnik (as himself).
American-born Tar was a Leonard Bernstein protégée who became the first female principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic in 2013. Refuting claims that she was ever held back by gender bias, formidable Tar went on to achieve success with the world’s most renowned orchestras, along with winning an Oscar, a Tony, an Emmy and a Grammy.
(I wish I knew more about the classical music world because I was mesmerized by the way in which she is meticulously preparing to record Mahler’s Symphony No. 5.)
At lunch with Eliot Kaplan (Mark Strong), whose generous investments have enabled her Accordion Conducting Fellowship for young woman, Tar adamantly refuses to allow him to see her Mahler’s Fifth notations, curtly dismissing his request with: “Do you own thing. There’s no glory in being a robot.”
Imitative or robotic thinking so annoys Tar that she flamboyantly eviscerates a Julliard student in a Master Class, a rash condemnation that will come back to haunt her.
That – along with allegations of reckless sexual misconduct with various subordinate female musicians, one who committed suicide – contribute to Tar’s eventual downfall – particularly when she suddenly turns her attention to Olga (Sophie Kauer), giving the sexy Russian cellist a solo in Elgar’s Cello Concerto.
Dutifully attended by her assistant, Francesca (Noemie Merlant), an aspiring conductor whom she mentors, Tar identifies as “a U-Haul lesbian.” She lives in a Berlin apartment with her partner Sharon (Nina Hoss), concertmaster and first violinist; they share an adopted daughter, Petra (Mila Bogojevic).
In developing this project, actor-turned-writer/director Todd Fields (“In the Bedroom,” “Little Children”) focuses on the concept of power and what having it does to a proven predator, touching on identity politics and cancel culture.
“If the story was about a white male, you’d known how to feel in five seconds,” Fields told the Hollywood Reporter. “But it was important to try to figure out another, more nuanced way to examine power itself.”
On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “Tar” is a provocative, intriguing 8; it will be streaming on Apple TV, Prime Video, Peacock & Vudu.
