Todd Field, where hast thou been? The actor turned director’s 2006 film Little Children, a masterful adaptation of Tom Perotta’s novel, that proved both a breakthrough for the burgeoning filmmaker as well as easily the paramount film of an era of productions that centered on the idea of suburban rot. One would think after dropping a neutron bomb like that we’d be getting Field movies every 3-4 years. It turns out, due to a number of false starts (including a never got off the ground Blood Meridian adaptation), we weren’t due another effort from him until almost 20 years later.
Worth the wait? Easy to say in hindsight, but his latest TÁR, is a thrilling film that defies easy categorization, even in terms of where its thematic interests lie. You’ve probably seen the poster of Cate Blanchett looking like Leonard Bernstein, conducting an orchestra as if it’s an act of pure jubilation and even carnal delight. And indeed, this is a movie focused on the turbulent career, or at least one slice of it, of fictional renowned classical composer and conductor Lydia Tár. Though less focused on the typical rise and fall narrative, though there’s some of it, Field is instead clocked into the idea of power – which is a fascinating dynamic in the classical world. When I was younger, I worked backstage in a classical music hall, and the share of personalities that would occupy the stage and green room; from the exceptionally kind to raging assholes, was an everyday variable occurrence. TÁR is probably the first movie I’ve seen in a very long time that provides the audience with a peak into that mindset, particularly from the lens of the conductor – and in this case, a conductor of far greater renown than I ever worked with.
One could break down the plot pretty simply: the lead-up to a debut of a new arrangement with the Berlin Philharmonic, where she is the chief conductor, Lydia Tár begins to receive gifts in the mail which serve as reminders of some of her past transgressions. This eventually leads to tragedy and her world becomes irrevocably changed. It’s funny, writing it like this, it’s not very interesting sounding, but the way Field and his collaborators (including an unbelievable performance by Blanchett) present the story is the key to clocking through this nearly 3 hour long character piece. To give you a sense of how absorbing this story is, we walked in pretty distracted with some other outside concerns, and despite that, the running time just flew by. TÁR is unfurled in a way that provides glimpses of the kind of person Lydia is, we’re treated to moments with her adopted daughter and her wife, to conversations with her mentor, and the ongoing politics of the Berlin Philharmonic and Lydia’s own perpetually exploding star. Every little fragment paints a broader mosaic until we’re faced with a greater truth about Lydia, a person who has become so intoxicated with her own power that she in turn wields it like a scythe through her career until it finally proves her own undoing.
Though, it’s Field’s own political ambiguity that I think gives TÁR its lasting power, beyond all else. The film is neither a paean to the #metoo era or a condemnation of so-called “cancel culture”, but instead a very exacting examination of a incredibly flawed human abusing her power in a very connected world that has limited to no tolerance for flaws. Field expertly plays both sides of this argument, even in the very opening credits, which highlights every “below the line” contributor first and foremost, the kinds of crew members that most audiences are heading for the exits when they finally are getting their moment on screen. And Field makes no bones about Tár’s actions being deserving of consequences, particularly in how even she knows she was in wrong in her attempts to hide evidence, but the film also casts a bit of a castigating eye at the idea of being unable separate art from artist and even this ever present internalization and personalization of tragedy that is now your own and turning into a cultural touchstone and your basic slacktivism. The more I think about it, the richer its text becomes.
And yes, it’s a bit silly to boost a heavily awarded and renowned actress like Blanchett as the frontrunner in another Oscar race, but as far as I’m concerned I can’t imagine we’ll see a more commanding and nuanced performance this year. Another feather in her cap, another essential Todd Field movie. Glad to have him back.
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