By Steve Crum

Tár is all about Lydia Tár, whose rise in the teaching and performance of classical music becomes her passion—a somewhat uncontrollable aspiration. 

Lydia, played by the always believable Cate Blanchett as a person with unrelenting dedication to her job, is not an easy person to like personally. She and her wife and concertmaster Sharon (Nina Hoss) have a young daughter, Petra (Mila Bogojevic). While Lydia is an orchestra conductor of world renown, her duties as wife and mother are distant and humorless. Tender love? No way. Home life is not that far removed from being a demanding maestro. 

Director-writer Todd Field paints a grim character study of a driven woman whose aspirations are multi-tasked. Lydia is planning to promote her autobiography via a book tour as well as her conductor’s dream, an upcoming live recording of Mahler’s Fifth Symphony. Simultaneously, she is restructuring her professional surroundings. That means using politics to replace her assistant conductor Sebastion (well played by Allan Corduner).

We also witness her teaching music and judging recitals at Julliard. She is laser focused on her students’ seeming prejudices regarding certain composers, particularly Bach. This leads to my favorite scene wherein Lydia browbeats one particular student to the point he curses her and leaves class. Previous to his storming out of class, we notice his left leg increasingly jump out of anxiety. It is no surprise when the young man cannot take his teacher’s bullying any longer. 

Lydia Tár is unmoved, seemingly devoid of his feelings.

On Lydia goes, making enemies of a half dozen or so musicians and associates. Eventually, that includes her long-time assistant Francesca (Noémie Merlant). Still, her professional and private life remain privileged as she is beyond reproach. It is clear she is as talented as she is egocentric. Lydia’s flirting with young Olga Metkina (Sophie Kauer), a talented Russian cellist, has repercussions both at home and on stage. 

Without getting specific, the thickened plot is not pretty.

Jealousy, lying, innuendo, and revenge dominate during Tár’s third act. By the finale, we have witnessed a slow-moving 158 minutes of the life of Lydia Tár…from peak to crumbling depth.

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GRADE on an A-F Scale: B-