Tár

I finally caught up with Cate Blanchett in Tár.  What a stunning performance.  Tár is clearly a monster in the long tradition of egotistical artists believing that they can do no wrong and Blanchett manages to be both watchable and awful.  

A film about cancel culture and power, I can’t decide whether putting a woman in that position was a cop out or stroke of genius, or maybe just being provocative*.  It lays out the problem in the early scenes with the student Max, and it’s clear from then where this will go.  My main gripe with the film is not that Lydia Tár is too big for her boots, but, appropriately I suppose, that the film is too. There were nice little flashes of wit throughout, and the denouement did make me smile, but the whole was dragged down by being overlong  and the script and dialogue a little too pleased with itself.  I suppose it could be just being a bit meta with all the pretentiousness but it did get dull, particularly in the early scenes; 3 minutes of black screen credits before we have seen anything to make us want to watch is very sure of itself**! 

Despite my reservations, the whole was saved by Blanchett’s performance which made Tár deliciously unsympathetic but realistically human.  Blanchett might just edge it for best female lead for her performance, but I don’t think this is a Best Picture. 

*On reflection I have been wondering  what would be the effect if Tár was male, and I think he would probably have been too much of a cliche and  completely unbearable to watch, so maybe a wise move after all. 

** I was streaming this and did pause the film to check that I hadn't accidentally leapt to the end