Review of TÁR (2022) by Blakcinephile — 31 Oct 2022

Tár is a simple tale of a revered composer-conductor’s fall from grace. A plot one would see as mundane if looking up the film’s synopsis from a distance. But not so mundane or out-of-touch for its elusive director Todd Field. With only three feature-length films to his name as a director (a sixteen-year gap between this film and his last – 2006’s “Little Children”), the winding, tense, tale of a woman’s meticulous self-destruction couldn’t be anything but par the course for the filmmaker. An elderly couple deals equally with grief for their son’s murder and anger at their son’s killer walking among them. A story of a man and woman beginning an intense affair – tired of their mundane, boring lives – is juxtaposed with the story of a recently released sex offender dealing with cruel adjustment and prejudice. Field has a way of taking these characters – a revered composer, a grieving couple, a cheating couple – their circumstances of woe and fleshing them out into a detailed portrait. By the time Tár ends, we’re not just more acquainted with who Lydia is as a person, we know her inside and out, we know who she is, how she is and we know all too well how she inevitably lost her way.

Tár follow its eponymous character, Lydia Tár, as she prepares for her upcoming performance of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 5. As she participates in a live sitdown with The New Yorker’s Adam Gopnik, we get a glimpse into Lydia’s character – she is poised, takes her work (and herself) seriously and knows and understands the craft that comes with her position as conductor (“Time is the thing…you cannot start without me”, she tells Gopnik). In the same sequence, while we see Lydia at her highest in the front of the stage, flaunting her musical knowledge and understanding, we also get a glimpse of her personal kryptonite. There are two or so shots of this whole sequence being filmed from the back of a young woman’s head, set front-and-center of the screen. This is our protagonist’s kryptonite in her mission of perfection – an attractive young woman. Her personal assistant Francesca (Noémie Merlant, great) knows this and tries to keep her employer on-task and focused. This includes trying to warn and guard Lydia of the sins of her past Fellowship Program, come to form in a former student – Krista Taylor – who is increasingly becoming more of a problem, sending Francesca multiple emails asking her to get Lydia to call and speak with her. It is of course implied that there was an inappropriate relationship between Tár and this woman. This is where Field works his magic by peeling back the layers on our protagonist as she prepares for her big symphony and also reminds us of the harsh truth about “time” – it humbles us all.