A feast for eyes and ears
Though snubbed by the Oscars despite receiving six nominations, the orchestral psychological thriller-drama starring Cate Blanchett is definitely worth watching – and for classical music fundis it’s a special delight. By
CIn a nutshell
ate Blanchett plays an internationally renowned composer, Lydia Tár, who is at the peak of her career, conducting the Berlin Philharmonic. She’s preparing a performance of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No 5 that she hopes will be her magnum opus, and simultaneously launching a book. At this pivotal moment in her life, she is besieged by allegations about her relationship with an ex-pupil, and she begins to unravel at the seams.
This is the first film from writer, producer and director Todd Field in 16 years, and it’s vastly different from his previous two. First and foremost, it’s an unsettling and increasingly mysterious character study that fully commits to and benefits from Cate Blanchett’s unique inscrutable presence, but it’s also a complex examination of power and gender that dares to muddy the waters in a dangerous whirlpool of identity politics without taking a clear standpoint.
What’s the vibe?
The filmography of Alejandro González Iñárritu is the most obvious comparison to be made – particularly Birdman, Whiplash, and Bardo: False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths, all of which are character-driven films about aspiring artists that delve extensively into their mental health.
It has a similar sense of doom and fall from grace as Birdman; the specific politics of an orchestral drama and interaction of the score and the music as Whiplash; and the philosophical angst about career success grappled with in Bardo.
A vital part of the way we interpret Tár is contingent on the sound mix and how we experience noise through our protagonist. In this way it is similar to Sound of Metal, and almost as ground-breaking.
A closer look
Field, who wrote and directed the movie, says his script was written entirely around Blanchett. “Had she said no, the film would have never seen the light of day. After all, she is a master supreme. In every possible way, this is Cate’s film.”
The importance of Blanchett’s eccentricities to the complex role of Tár is immediately evident. This is a person whose bombardment with respect and adoration has shaped a narcissistic charisma and an ever-present, self-important stress of competing with her own previous successes.
She speaks in a haughty voice and makes pretentious reference to terms from other cultures in such a way that implies the lamentable ignorance of anyone who is not so enlightened as to be familiar with them.
She’s intimidating. She always has a snarky response. She doesn’t read reviews, cultivating the notion that she is above the consequences of popular opinion, and believes her own rhetoric about the poignancy of intent behind music.
Tár is brilliantly unfamiliar as a female character, and though her gender is constantly a talking point, she seems remarkably uninterested in gender constructs.
It’s difficult to decide whether her standpoint is immediately a feminist one or not. The way that she approaches identity politics seems conservative at first, when she clashes with a Generation Z student who refuses to acknowledge or play Bach on the basis of accusations of the composer’s misogyny.
Tár responds to the question of whether music written by
Tár.
Tár. a bunch of straight, white German guys exalts us in a startling, unemotional and politically incorrect way.
But as the film progresses, these refreshingly atypical standpoints take on a very different significance when she is accused of predatory behaviour and having been an abuser of previous students.
It’s unusual to see a female character take on this typically male niche of an ethically grey area, and that adds to the film’s novelty without clearly reflecting on the real stories of manipulation emerging from #MeToo.
Tár takes a while to build any momentum and it’s too long for such an intensely cerebral film, but the sleek cinematography and multifaceted, agenda-free commentary on identity politics make it more than worth your time.