TÁR

After hearing the hype about Cate Blanchett's performance from all of the fall film festivals, TÁR became one of my most anticipated movies and I was so excited to have a chance to see it last night!  This cautionary tale about the fall from grace of a brilliant composer and conductor is incredibly compelling and thought-provoking.  Lydia Tár (Blanchett) is arrogant and imperious in her professional life as the principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic and remote and unfeeling in her personal relationships with her partner Sharon Goodnow (Nina Hoss), her personal assistant Francesca Lentini (Noemie Merlant), and a Russian cellist named Olga Metkina (Sophie Kauer).  When an allegation of impropriety towards young conductor (Sylvia Flote) she once mentored is suggested, she slowly comes undone as everyone in her life turns against her.  Blanchett gives an incredibly powerful performance because her character is very unsympathetic (she is the architect of her own demise) and yet you somehow begin to feel sympathy for her.  This is a long and slow moving character study but my attention never wavered because Blanchett is so captivating and every scene is fraught with meaning (the significance of which is not always immediately apparent but is eventually revealed).  I really enjoyed the ambiguity of the narrative because the audience is never really sure if she is guilty of what she has been accused of, especially when a supposedly incriminating video of a lecture at Julliard surfaces and turns public opinion against her because the audience knows what really transpired.  It is an interesting commentary on cancel culture and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it.  I also really enjoyed the discussion about whether artists should be judged by their work or by their behavior.  Finally, as a fan of classical music, I was impressed by the use of Mahler's Fifth Symphony and Elgar's Cello Concerto, especially since Blanchett is actually conducting and Kauer is performing.  This will not be for everyone but I absolutely loved it (I predict that it will appear on my top ten list for the year).