Worth: $17.00
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Cast:
Cate Blanchett, Noémie Merlant, Nina Hoss, Mark Strong
Intro:
... will be hotly debated long after audiences leave the cinema.
Artists are a breed apart. This sprawling feature from Todd Field (In the Bedroom, Little Children) seems to trade on that assertion. If this is the case, then should we cut them some slack in their general dealings with people and the world, allowing them free rein to explore their passions? Paradoxically, they must still be bound by the general moral codes that apply to all of us.
The history of art is replete with examples of creative greats who could be absolute shits in their personal life. The portrait of classical conductor Lydia Tár (Cate Blanchett), the eponymous artist here, certainly explores that tension and tests the audience’s sympathies in the process.
Tár is a bit of an enigma and the film that wraps around her is sometimes equally puzzling. This is deliberate. When Blanchett introduced the film in person at a gala screening in Sydney recently, she joked perhaps in earnest that she didn’t fully understand the film. Of course, she understands well enough how to portray a complex character, hence the Oscar buzz for this blistering and hugely committed performance.
There has already been a lot of coverage about Blanchett’s dive into the role, which included learning to speak her German lines fluently and enough technique to look convincing at the piano. Then, there is the issue of conducting. To the untrained eye, conducting probably looks like a person in a penguin suit waving a little stick around, but presumably there is a lot more to it than that.
Tár is under scrutiny within the film, and this brings us to the subtext of gender and sexual politics. Tár is not only the first ever woman to be the Principal Conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic (that has not happened yet for a woman in real life by the way) but also a lesbian. Field never tub-thumps about her ceiling-breaking and the prejudice she overcomes. (After all, this is an orchestra that has hosted Von Karajan and Abbado and it takes itself and its traditions very seriously).
Those hoping for long swathes of actual music may be disappointed. The film’s emphasis is on narrating the inner life of a complex artist; it is not a concert film. To do this, it includes episodes that might well be part of her fantasy life. This inside/outside dynamic certainly provides plenty to explore. The film runs to over 2 and ½ hours and still feels like there is much more to go into. It is a tribute to the skill of all involved that this running time doesn’t actually feel bloated.
The politics and the vicious infighting of the closed world of classical music does feature a lot. Whether this will interest a general audience sufficiently is an empirical question. What is not in doubt is the terrific skill of the realisation. When you see this film, you are reminded in the best way, of how good Blanchett can be. It is also much to her credit that she really stretches herself in her choice of projects. This is yet another big performance to add to her already impressive CV.
To return to the issues of her character and the journey we go on, the film invites us to see Tár through a complex lens. The way others behave towards her is reprehensible but there is also the uncomfortable sense that she is something of a moral monster; we really don’t know how we to feel about it all. That may be one of things that ensures that the film will be hotly debated long after audiences leave the cinema.