«I just worked with Todd Field and it has been a terrific experience. It’s amazing working with him», said the divine Cate Blanchett. She explains that the shooting occurred «in Berlin and Dresda with the Dresden Philharmonic. I play the first woman directing a great German orchestra. She’s an imaginary character called Lydia Tár. The story is a fall from grace and a meeting with Jesus but is also about creative process and power. It’s very interesting».
Tár is written and directed by Todd Field, who comes back behind the camera 16 years after Little Children, a bitter portrait of two unhappy spouses coming from two different marriages, a sex maniac and a former police officer. The film had three Oscar nominations (Todd Field for his screenplay and Kate Winslet and Jackie Earle Haley for their performances). Tár is the perfect vehicle for Miss Blanchett to get another Academy Award nomination and to win her third Oscar after The Aviator (2004) and Blue Jasmine (2013). Blanchett was also nominated for Elizabeth; Diary of a Scandal; I’m not There; Elizabeth. The Golden Age and Carol.
Noémie Merlant, Nina Hoss, Julian Glover, Allan Corduner and Mark Strong star in Tár and for the first time on screen Sophie Kauer, an actual Londoner cello player with a key role in the story. Kauer was selected among hundreds of colleagues for the role.
Field tells the struggles that Lydia Tár faces having credit in a male-dominated environment such as classical music, constantly compelled to show her competence as a musicologist. Things are not easier in her private life because she falls in love with two women, both musicians.
Todd Field is also an actor; he perfectly knows how to get the best from his players. His task was to embed the talent of one of the greatest contemporary actresses with that of a musician who had never acted in her life.
TÁR
USA 2022, Director Todd Field with Cate Blanchett, Noémie Merlant, Nina Hoss, Sophie Kauer, Julian Glover, Allan Corduner, Mark Strong, Running time 158’
