Tar: Kate Blanchett’s “Tour de Force!”

Writer/Director Todd Field has made a very interesting and thought-provoking film.  Kate Blanchett's portrayal as Lydia Tar will very probably receive an AA nomination and it will take an amazing performance by another actress to top it!  I think the movie will also receive AA nominations for Best Movie, Best Director, and Best Screenplay.  It's a MUST-SEE for Blanchett's performance alone, but the film has plenty of other things going for it.  The movie may not make my Top 5, but it will very probably be in my Top 10.  At 158 minutes, I thought it was about 30 minutes too long, but, otherwise, I thought the movie was terrific (what else is new!) Lydia Tar is on top of the world!  She is breathing the refined air of the few EGOT award winners (having won Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony awards).  This film starts with an in-depth interview of Lydia with New Yorker writer Adam Gopnik (playing himself).  Lydia is the Conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, the world's best orchestra.  She previously was the protégé of Leonard Bernstein.  If that wasn't enough, she is a virtuoso pianist and teaches at Julliard.  (Lydia makes LeBron James look like an under-achiever!)  Lydia has recorded all of Mahler's symphonies, except for his greatest, #5, which she is planning to record live with the Berlin Philharmonic shortly.  All of Mahler's symphonies will then be released as a boxed set.  In this interview – which I really loved – we learn a great deal about classical music, as well as what makes the Conductor so important to an orchestra. In another scene, Lydia pulls no punches as she humiliates a Gen-Z Julliard conductor student who refuses to conduct Bach because of his lifestyle!  (This scene was "Whiplash" lite.)  Lydia's two significant others are her assistant, Francesca (Noemie Mortant), and her partner, Sharon (Nina Hoss). This is a movie where I can't reveal much about the plot, but the film reveals how pathological narcissism, even in a genius, can wreak havoc on herself and her significant others.  What I admire most about the film was how a complex personality disorder like narcissism was very accurately portrayed in Lydia's character.  Within the natural flow of the plot, Lydia's coldness, ruthless craving for power, lack of empathy, exploitation of those in her inner circle, and inability to apologize were revealed in very emotionally-compelling scenes.  It's a tragedy that Lydia didn't know how to "conduct" herself better.