Saturday, 3 June 2023

VOD: Tar (dir: Todd Field, 2023)

"Ha, you mean she has a conscience."
"Maybe..."

Cate Blanchett invests heavily in bringing to life the driven, absolute and compellingly extreme central character of Lydia Tar, a brilliant musician/conductor/academic, seen at the top of her profession as she prepares to tackle a live recoding of Mahler's 5th Symphony.  Scenes are mesmerisingly lengthy, with Blanchett commanding every one with her extraordinary clarity and precision, showing both Tar's unwavering bravado and also the subtle manipulative differences she employs when engaging with the different people and facets of her life.  The tension between creativity and judgement is interesting from the outset, and as Tar's increasingly toxic relationships and manipulations start to infringe on her status and public profile and her life and career start to unravel, her loss of control is both fascinating and sad to watch.  The character may be impenetrably unlikeable, but Blanchett's perrfomance is quite extraordinary to watch. 
 

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