Lydia parries that she’s a “U-Haul lesbian,” whatever that is, who focuses solely on the music, and slams the student’s POV as “robotic” and dictated by social media. Max (Zethphan Smith-Gneist), who identifies as BIPOC pangender (Google it), states they’re “not into old white guys” like Bach, a cis patriarch who fathered 20 children. The first hint of rough seas ahead for Lydia surfaces in a master class she’s teaching at Juilliard. The opener is almost a room-emptier, inviting all but the Happy Few to pack up their popcorn and leave. The musically unschooled need not apply.Įven worse - in the sense of “better” - Tár begins with an endless fuck-you list of the film’s credits, starting with such contributors as “Best Boy Grip” and other lesser lights. There follows a lengthy bio of her lofty achievements a discussion of Gustav Mahler, including thoughts on the tempo of the Fifth’s sublime Adagietto its link to Alma Mahler an aside about Alma dumping Mahler for Gropius. She’s about to appear on stage for an interview with the New Yorker ‘s Adam Gopnik (as himself). In her orbit is ever-watchful Francesca (Noemie Merlant), an aspiring conductor and likely former lover who’s been censoring emails to Lydia from a dangerously distraught ex.įirst sight of Lydia, she’s standing in the wings, elegant in an androgynous black suit and white shirt, doing breathing exercises. In a hush-hush way, it’s rumored she’s a “groomer” who amps up the careers of her sexual partners. Lydia finds romantic intrigue elsewhere, principally with rising young musicians. Sharon equals home and stability above all, a shared dedication to music that verges on the monastic. Lydia’s design for living is Euro-cool as well. Their mildly troubled adopted daughter seems a bit of an afterthought, given the all-consuming demands of their profession. Years back, it appears, they came out as a high-profile couple. Lydia lives in Euro-cool digs with longtime partner Sharon (Nina Hoss, reliably superb), who is also the orchestra’s first violin and concert master. Tár kicks off as she prepares to record Mahler’s Fifth Symphony. It’s intriguing that Todd Field ( In the Bedroom and Little Children), who hasn’t been heard from in 16 years, has resurfaced with a work that flings its highbrow creds in the air like confetti.Īs my colleague Gerald Peary recently wrote, “Nobody goes to non-horror, non-comic book movies these days without major stars.” It’s hard to imagine, though, that Tár, by far the best film I’ve seen in the super-selective New York Film Festival, won’t break some sort of philistine barrier and find a wide spectrum of viewers.Ĭenter stage is Lydia Tár (Blanchett), a genius-grade conductor/composer, protegée of Leonard Bernstein, and first female conductor of the legendary Berliner Philharmoniker. Given this milieu, the folks who boarded the project must have resigned themselves to turning a profit in the high two figures. A gripping character study anchored by an astonishing turn from Blanchett, it’s set in the world of, gulp, classical music. What a gift director Todd Field and Cate Blanchett have handed us in Tár. Opening at Kendall Cinema and AMC Boston Common on October 13. Tár is about a major artist with an outsize ego who ignores at her peril the seismic shifts in the culture.

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