Tar

 

Tar

Lydia Tar is one of the greatest living composer/conductors, and the first-ever female chief conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic. Cate Blanchet, plays Tar, and delivers a brilliant performance.  She is intense and supremely confident which is another way of saying arrogant. She is a married lesbian with an adopted little girl, Petra. For her performance Blanchet learned phonic German, to play the piano and mastered the arduous task of conducting.

The film is a psychological drama. The first half hour is taken up by musicology peppered with French and German music terms. The movie then focusses on the turbulence of her career and private life. She is ruthless when dismissing staff and longtime colleagues. A dark side of Tar is revealed when she admonishes a girl who is bulling her daughter. Her rebuke is threatening and clearly shakes up the girl. The movie is a journey of the destruction of her career and marriage. The ending of the movie is brilliant and a counter point to her career.

There are some plot elements that do not easily connect. Who was crying in the forest? Who turned on the metronome? What does the death of an elderly neighbor signify? The movie needs to be watched carefully.

The cast is international and includes Mark Strong, as a competing composer, Nina Hoss as the wife, Noemie Merlant as the assistant and Mila Bogojevic as Petra.

Blanchet gives another brava performance which will be noticed during the awards season.

.