Title – Tár (2022) 

Director – Todd Field (Little Children) 

Cast – Cate Blanchett, Mark Strong, Noémie Merlant, Nina Hoss

Plot – The life of esteemed composer/conductor Lydia Tár (Blanchett) begins to unravel in the face of personal dramas and industry expectations.  

“The narcissism of small differences leads to the most boring kind of conformity”

Review by Eddie on 21/08/2023

A critical darling of the end of year 2022 and early 2023 awards season, Todd Field’s first feature since 2006’s Little Children is another layered and complex mature audience aimed affair that marks an epic exploration of the feisty, determined and downright monstrous creation that is conductor and composer Lydia Tár.  

Written by Field in isolation during the initial Covid-19 pandemic, Tár is a self-assured and cocksure film that is going to be a hard pill to swallow for audiences seeking out easily accessible and digestible cinematic drama as Field takes his exploration of a crumbling life and fracturing mental state in directions that aren’t always easy to justify or arguably necessary, despite the fact the lead turn from Cate Blanchett is a site to behold in a scenery chewing way. 

A determined but highly unlikable creation that sees others as robots and those with differing views to her own as lesser beings, Tár is one of the more complex villains created in modern drama and while early on the true horrors of Tár’s doings are hidden amongst some long-winded and self-congratulatory segments that appear to be designed by Field to purely showcase his understandings of his subject matter or skillset as a screenwriter/director, in the films latter stages the unfiltered nature and mindset of Tár becomes more apparent creating some of the most awkward and unnerving segments of recent memory, culminating in a pitch black finale that must be one of the most unexpected of modern times. 

Clearly the point of Field to explore such a nefarious yet brilliant mind, one’s enjoyment of Tár’s over two and a half hours will come down to how much they engage with or tolerate Lydia’s comings and goings as its not exactly riveting stuff throughout, despite an incredible amount of craftsmanship on display here from Field’s directional choices through to Blanchett’s commitment to the role, a standout of both which is an unbroken classroom set scene that ratchets up the tension and awkwardness to eleven. 

Undoubtedly aimed at appealing to a market that has a say in awards voting and industry insight, it’s not hard to see why Tár was such a heavily nominated and winning awards season offering but at the same time its easy too see why despite its 6 Oscar nominations it ended up walking away empty handed as this is a meticulously made and performed film but one that feels cold and void of purpose throughout making one wonder why we should continue to care for anything that took place here once the credits finally begin to roll. 

Final Say – 

An awards baiting drama if there ever was one, Tár is finely made and performed but it’s a hard film to fall in love with, making one wonder if its time in the spotlight of adoration is short-lived outside of its originally lauded release.  

2 1/2 piano accordions out of 5