Tar ★★★★
DRAMA (2022)
Directed by: Todd Field
InterpretationsCast: Cate Blanchett, Nina Hoss, Noémie Merlan

Lydia’s careless remark to a black student will open Eol’s sack and, combined with yet another tragic incident, she will be consumed by social media.

With six Oscar nominations, one of the best films of this season hits theaters this week. Lydia Tarr (Cate Blanchett) is a world-famous conductor at the height of her career preparing the release of a new book and, at the same time, a long-awaited live performance of Mahler’s Fifth Symphony with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, which she directs. A relatively minor incident, however, takes unexpectedly large proportions, jeopardizing her career and turning her entire life upside down as new hits follow one another.

Director and screenwriter Todd Field creates a very special character here to, on the one hand, describe in detail her psychography, and on the other hand, make a number of comments and observations about the modern Western art world, the nature of power and the costs associated with it, absolute devotion to something. or. Lydia, among others, occasionally teaches at the famous Juilliard Academy of Music. However, her offhand remark to a black student who doesn’t appreciate Bach’s music because the composer was… half-sexual would open Eol’s scrotum, and combined with yet another tragic incident, social media would engulf

Cancellation culture, the cutting edge and gifts of modern political correctness, and the ultimate exposure of social media here at the center, in a film that becomes more and more like a thriller as the – rather drawn-out two and a half hours – film goes on. for its duration. This is, of course, its most charming element, as the main character turns from absolute power into a tangle of weakness and insecurity that will push her to extremes.

All of this, of course, would not have been possible without the incredible performance of Cate Blanchett, who is also a favorite for the third Oscar of her career. The Australian actress does almost everything here, sometimes exuding the frozen charm of an absolute diva, and sometimes the unexpected explosiveness of a desperate woman, speaks four different languages ​​​​and generally mesmerizes the viewer, in a film that would probably just be interesting without her presence.