Having shot nothing since the remarkable LittleChildrenreleased 16 years ago, Todd Field (In the Bedroom) is making a strong comeback with TAR, a film written specifically for Cate Blanchett. The latter is obviously exceptional in the role of an orchestra conductor devoting herself entirely to her art to better erase a few episodes of a troubled past.
Posted at 7:30 a.m.
The screenplay, written by the filmmaker alone, addresses several very contemporary themes, taking the world of classical music as a framework. It is particularly about cancel culture and the #metoo movement, but TAR is above all the portrait of a talented woman, consumed from within as much by her passion as by her gray areas. In this case, music can thus become life-saving. Or unhealthy, depending.
We sometimes find ourselves thinking about The pianist, by Michael Haneke (with Isabelle Huppert), although the stories are completely different. Same rigor in the practice of art, same suffering, sometimes. Austerity too.
From the outset, we feel that Lydia Tár does not conceive of her work in a traditional way. The first woman to become conductor of a major symphony orchestra in Berlin, the great capital of classical music, Lydia is also interested in contemporary composers and music from elsewhere.
A complex approach
The approach taken by the musician to the exercise of her art is revealed during an interview-conference that she gives in front of an audience, during which we can identify the very complex nature of the artist, as much as its contradictions.
As she prepares to publish an autobiography that she wrote herself, when she is also preparing a Mahler cycle with her orchestra, a first pitfall occurs during a special class that Lydia, during a trip to New York, offers future conductors. A discussion with one of the students turns sour when the latter refuses to listen to – even more to play – Johann Sebastian Bach, believing that the behavior of this white man, heterosexual and misogynistic, father of 20 children, does not correspond not at all to its values of inclusion and diversity. Lydia’s response is so scathing that the young man simply decides to leave the room, uttering heartfelt insults.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY UNIVERSAL PICTURES CANADA
Thanks to his performance in TARa film by Todd Field, Cate Blanchett won an interpretation award at the Venice Film Festival.
The episode could be banal; it is not. The scenario of TAR is moreover constructed in such a way that an accumulation of events of this kind, on the part of a chef who can tend to be really very demanding, can lead to consequences on the professional level, but also in the personal life. The relationship with the lover, interpreted by Nina Hoss, risks in particular being undermined.
Music obviously plays an important role. Todd Field makes good use of Icelandic composer Hildur Guðnadóttir’s musical score (Sicario, Joker), as well as the power of a large orchestra. That said, the outcome of the story, a little surprising, is less grafted to the rest of the story, but the fact remains that Cate Blanchett, who manages the feat of reinventing herself with each role, delivers her score as a true virtuoso.
The interpretation prize awarded to the actress at the Venice Film Festival, during which a first version of this text was published, surprised no one as it was a matter of certainty.
TAR is currently showing in the original version and in the French version.
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Drama
TAR
Todd Field
Starring Cate Blanchett, Noemie Merlant, Nina Hoss
2:38