Tár 4K 2022 Ultra HD 2160p

The fictional story of conductor Lydia Thar (Cate Blanchett), the first woman to lead the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Thar prepares for a demanding performance of Mahler's Fifth Symphony, while secrets of the past threaten to destroy her career.

Tár 4K Review
Lydia Thar (Cate Blanchett) is a renowned conductor working in some of the world's finest concert halls, she teaches at Juilliard as a guest expert and is preparing to publish her own book. Lydia lives in two countries: she often travels to New York for work, while her family waits in Berlin. The absolutely perfect shell of Lydia's life begins to crack at the seams when it becomes known about the death of her former assistant. The girl accused Lydia of suicide, after which stories of the conductor's working affairs begin to surface. At the same time, Thar promotes a cellist she likes in the orchestra, but her career and family life are rapidly falling apart.

Todd Fields seems to be the only person who's had a productive quarantine: in early 2020, the studio gave him carte blanche for a new project, and he summed up his thinking in "Tar." Since the central character is literally the magnetic center of the whole story, it's hard to imagine another actress who could carry the film straight into the seething vortex of awards season. Fields wrote the script with Cate Blanchett in mind, and he didn't miscalculate: The actress delivers the lines as well as the character conducts. Tar explained how the same tune can sound differently under different conductors, well, that kind of rhythm can only give Blanchett, and in her game is not a single false note. If you step out of reality for a moment, it may seem that we are watching a biopic about the real Lydia Thar, so flawless Blanchett structured her character's part.

The film answers the question that has plagued us for the past few years, "Is it possible to separate art from the creator" - the answer itself (the ending) is disappointing, but comprehensive. The catch is that it's impossible not to fall in love with Lydia Tarr, Blanchett's character is so charming that you ignore the red flags she scattered over the course of the plot to the last. The more the plot accelerates, the more the viewer is thrown back to the first 30 minutes of the film, where Tar defended Bach in an argument with her student who awkwardly tried to "undo" the composer for his sins. She insisted that the violence against women noted in Schopenhauer's biography had no bearing on his creations. Though in the opening scene (a lengthy interview at Lincoln center) she contradicts herself, arguing that in order to understand a work, one must delve into the author's life.

"Thar" is overflowing with such contradictions and internal conflicts, which is what makes this measured sloberner so interesting to watch. Tod Fields has chosen the most appropriate approach to the discussion of censorship culture; he does not lament that "abolition" destroys art, the director's view of the subject is more expansive and fits into two and a half hours of running time. The director does not betray his trademark style, as in his previous films ("In the Room," "Like Little Children"), he does not rush anywhere and slowly lays out the cards on the table. There are no cathartic moments in the film; the plot accelerates closer to the finale, wrapping up at the funeral of Lydia's career, whose story is similar to that of actor Armie Hammer, now selling shares in timeshares in the Cayman Islands.

"Tar" is hard to squeeze into genre boundaries, the truth here is in the eye of the beholder: the film can be both a situational black comedy and a heavy-handed drama--depending on your perception. For the same reason, the finale doesn't end the discussion of the title theme, but rather prompts further discussion outside of the theater. The most awkward conversations will take place in Hollywood, at parties after awards ceremonies, because "Thar" has already won awards from critics, collected major nominations at the Golden Globes, and is moving steadily toward the Oscars.