Tár is a 2022 psychological drama film written and directed by Todd Field and starring Cate Blanchett. The film follows fictional world-class conductor Lydia Tár. The supporting cast includes Nina Hoss, Noémie Merlant, Sophie Kauer, Julian Glover, Allan Corduner, and Mark Strong. Tár premiered at the 79th Venice International Film Festival in September 2022, where Blanchett won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress. The film had a limited theatrical release in the United States on October 7, 2022, before a wide release on October 28, by Focus Features.[5]
Tár was selected Best Film of the Year by the New York Film Critics Circle, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and the National Society of Film Critics, becoming only the seventh film in history named as such from the nation's top critics' groups, the so-called "trifecta".[6] It was named Best Picture of the Year by more critics than any other film released in 2022 — among others: Vanity Fair, The Guardian, Daily Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Screen Daily, Entertainment Weekly, and IndieWire's annual poll of 156 critics worldwide.[7][8] The American Film Institute named it one of the top 10 films of the year, and Tár was named Best Picture of the year by the London Film Critics' Circle with Field named Best Director and Blanchett Best Actress of the Year.[9]
At the 80th Golden Globe Awards, Blanchett won Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama, while the film was nominated for Best Motion Picture – Drama and Best Screenplay. At the 28th Critics Choice Awards, Blanchett won Best Actress, and Guðnadóttir won Best Score. For the 76th British Academy Film Awards, the film received five nominations.
For the 95th Academy Awards, Tár received six nominations: Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay for Field, Best Actress for Blanchett, as well as Best Cinematography and Best Editing.
Plot
Lydia Tár is an American pianist, ethnomusicologist, composer, and the first female chief conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic. During an interview with Adam Gopnik at The New Yorker Festival, she promotes several new projects, including her upcoming live recording of Mahler's Fifth Symphony and new book Tár on Tár. She relies on Francesca, her personal assistant and ex-paramour, and Sharon, her wife and concertmaster. Lydia lunches with Eliot Kaplan,[a] an investment banker and amateur conductor who co-founded the Accordion Foundation with Lydia to support aspiring female conductors. They discuss technique, replacing Lydia's assistant conductor Sebastian, and filling a vacant cello position in Berlin.
Lydia holds a masterclass at the Juilliard School. In a long take,[11] she challenges self-described BIPOC pangender student Max for not taking interest in white cisgender composers like J. S. Bach,[12] encouraging students to look past superficial differences and focus on the music itself. Before returning to Berlin, Lydia receives a first edition of Vita Sackville-West's novel Challenge from Krista Taylor, a former Accordion fellow. Dream sequences and e-mails suggest Lydia and Krista were in a sexually transactional relationship that went sour, with Krista becoming erratic after Lydia blacklisted her from various orchestras.
Before a blind audition for the cello position, Lydia spots Russian hopeful Olga Metkina in the bathroom. Attracted to Olga, Lydia secures her favors, such as changing her scorecard to ensure a spot in the orchestra and granting a plum soloist position in the companion piece to Mahler's Fifth, Edward Elgar's Cello Concerto. As Lydia prepares for the recording, her relationships with Francesca and Sharon grow strained, as both recognize her attraction to Olga.
After sending increasingly alarming emails to Francesca, Krista takes her own life and Lydia instructs Francesca to delete any correspondence from or about Krista. Lydia also retains a lawyer, as Krista's parents plan to sue. Lydia informs Sebastian of his imminent replacement. Incensed, he indicates the orchestra is aware of her favoritism, and that it suggests abusive behavior toward young women. He speculates Francesca will be his replacement, implying an exchange of sexual favors. Unnerved by the accusations, Lydia plans to replace Sebastian with a different candidate.
Lydia is haunted by screaming women in the distance, nightmares, chronic pain, an increasing sensitivity to sound, and enigmatic scribbles resembling those Krista once made. While trying to complete a new composition, she is continually disturbed by the sound of a medical-alert device next door, where her erratic neighbor is caring for her dying mother.
A misleadingly edited video of Lydia's Juilliard class goes viral, and an article accusing her of sexual predation appears in the New York Post. Lydia, accompanied by Olga, returns to New York to attend a deposition for the lawsuit of Krista's parents and to promote her book. In New York she is met by protestors. During the deposition, it is implied that Francesca has shared incriminating emails with the plaintiffs.
Back in Berlin, Lydia is removed as conductor due to the controversy. Furious over the allegations and Lydia's lack of communication, Sharon bars Lydia from seeing their daughter Petra. Lydia retreats to her old studio and grows increasingly depressed and deranged. She sneaks into the live recording of Mahler's Fifth and violently assaults her replacement, Eliot. Advised to lie low by her management agency, she returns to her childhood home on Staten Island, where certificates of achievement reveal that her birth name is Linda Tarr. She tearfully watches an old tape of Leonard Bernstein's first episode of Young People's Concerts, "What Does Music Mean?"[13] Her brother Tony comes home and admonishes her for forgetting her roots.
Sometime later, Lydia finds tedious and professionally undemanding work conducting in the Philippines.[14] Seeking a massage to ease her jetlag, she asks the hotel concierge for a recommendation. She is sent to a high-end brothel, where she is directed to the "fishbowl," where numerous young women in numbered robes are seated in a chamber-orchestra-like arrangement. One woman looks up into Lydia's eyes, her robe the number 5, the same number as the important symphony Lydia couldn't conduct and her position the same as Olga's; Lydia rushes outside to vomit. With her new orchestra, Lydia conducts the score for the video game series Monster Hunter in front of an audience of cosplayers.
Cast
- Cate Blanchett as Linda Tarr/Lydia Tár, a world-famous composer-conductor[15]
- Nina Hoss as Sharon Goodnow, a concertmaster and Lydia's wife[16]
- Noémie Merlant as Francesca Lentini, Lydia's assistant[17]
- Sophie Kauer as Olga Metkina, a young Russian cellist[18]
- Julian Glover as Andris Davis, Lydia's predecessor
- Allan Corduner as Sebastian Brix, Lydia's assistant conductor
- Mark Strong as Eliot Kaplan, an investment banker, amateur conductor, and manager of Lydia's fellowship program
- Sylvia Flote as Krista Taylor, a former member of Lydia's conducting fellowship program
- Adam Gopnik as himself, Lydia's interviewer at The New Yorker Festival
- Mila Bogojevic as Petra, Lydia and Sharon's adopted daughter
- Zethphan Smith-Gneist as Max, a Juilliard student[19]
- Lee Sellars as Tony Tarr, Linda/Lydia's brother
- Sydney Lemmon as Whitney Reese, a fan of Lydia
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