TÁR

Name: TÁR
Genre: Drama, Music
Released: October 7, 2022
Duration: 158 min
Rating: 92
Cast: Allan Corduner, Cate Blanchett, Julian Glover, Lucie Pohl, Mark Strong

2022

METASCORE

Universal acclaim based on 59 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 172 Ratings

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7.3

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7.3	Your Score
7.3	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 172 Ratings

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Tar (Trailer 2)

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Movie Details & Credits

Focus Features | Release Date: October 7, 2022 | Not Rated

Starring: Allan Corduner, Cate Blanchett, Julian Glover, Lucie Pohl, Mark Strong, Nina Hoss, Noémie Merlant, Sam Douglas, Sydney Lemmon, Vincent Riotta

Movie Facts:

Named Best Picture of 2022 by the New York Film Critics Circle. Received six Academy Award nominations including Best Picture. More awards and nominations.

Summary: Set in the international world of classical music, TÁR examines the changing nature of power and its impact and durability in our modern world through the life of iconic musician Lydia Tár (Cate Blanchett), the first-ever female chief conductor of a major German orchestra.

Director: Todd Field

Genre(s): Drama, Music

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 158 min

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

100

Peter Travers

Oct 7, 2022

Start engraving the name Cate Blanchett on the Oscar for Best Actress. Her virtuoso performance as a classical music conductor blindsided by cancel culture is an absolute stunner in a Todd Field spellbinder that belongs on every list of the best movies of 2022. Read full review

100

Marjorie Baumgarten

Oct 20, 2022

As masterful as the character it portrays, TÁR is a textured, finely calibrated, stunningly composed, and thoroughly contemporary study. Its chords reverberate long after the music fades. Read full review

100

Wendy Ide

Jan 17, 2023

The genius of Todd Field’s superb Tár comes from the way the film-making echoes the treacherously seductive and mercurial nature of its central character. Read full review

Siddhant Adlakha

Jan 12, 2023

Cate Blanchett’s forceful performance as a world-famous composer makes TÁR a richly detailed exposé of ego. Read full review

James Berardinelli

Oct 31, 2022

Tar isn’t based on a true story but it possesses an emotional and intellectual honesty that makes it seem more real than countless made-for-mass-consumption biopics. Read full review

The Independent Clarisse Loughrey

Jan 12, 2023

Cate Blanchett swallows Tár whole and spits out bullets in return. Read full review

Kyle Smith

Oct 7, 2022

Like its subject, the film is severe, dry and painfully serious, but in the closing seconds Mr. Field does, at last, deliver some relief with a visual joke that deals in a kind of cosmic comeuppance. It’s by far the best part of the movie, but it arrives too late to make much of a difference. Up to that point, “Tár” is like listening to a slow, ominous roll on the timpani for two and a half hours. Read full review

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User Reviews

Ethan1011

Oct 11, 2022

This is a slow burn movie but never boring thanks to the out-of-this-world acting by Cate Blanchett and an amazing supporting cast including Nina Hoss. Todd Hayes' script is ingenious and I am still thinking of the movie after watching it last night. People who say if you are not in theThis is a slow burn movie but never boring thanks to the out-of-this-world acting by Cate Blanchett and an amazing supporting cast including Nina Hoss. Todd Hayes' script is ingenious and I am still thinking of the movie after watching it last night. People who say if you are not in the music world then you will be bored watching this movie, they are completely wrong. The central message of the movie is about abuse of power and cancel culture and music and orchestra are just an instrument (no pun intended) to deliver the main theme of the movie. Go see it on the big screen!… Expand

5 of 10 users found this helpful55

GinaK

Nov 8, 2022

A great performance by Cate Blanchett in a fascinating film about a driven artist and a troubled woman, and you really can't separate the two. Without doubt one of the best films and perhaps the greatest, most complex performance I will see this year.

2 of 7 users found this helpful25

davemelbourne58

Oct 16, 2022

Great character study.
Two things: With great power comes great responsibility.
How would I describe Tar? It's a fever dream that's kind of a cross between Black Swan with a little bit of Fatal Attraction mixed in, and topped off by the madness of Alice Cooper's Welcome to my Nightmare.Great character study.
Two things: With great power comes great responsibility.
How would I describe Tar?
It's a fever dream that's kind of a cross between Black Swan with a little bit of Fatal Attraction mixed in, and topped off by the madness of Alice Cooper's Welcome to my Nightmare.
Fascinating.
Riveting.
Can't wait to watch it again...on the BIG screen.… Expand

4 of 7 users found this helpful43

CalvinCrack

Oct 26, 2022

It’s too boring. It was a chore to get through by the end. I liked a lot of it, so credit where credit is due. I’d give it a soft recommendation but it’s a long sit. Cate Blanchett was great in an icy, sometimes lukewarm performance as this borderline sociopath whom we end up admiringIt’s too boring. It was a chore to get through by the end. I liked a lot of it, so credit where credit is due. I’d give it a soft recommendation but it’s a long sit. Cate Blanchett was great in an icy, sometimes lukewarm performance as this borderline sociopath whom we end up admiring despite her faults. If this sounds interesting to you, then this is your movie.… Expand

6 of 6 users found this helpful60

IHaveGreatTaste

Oct 28, 2022

The filmmaking is great. The script, however, is only okay. And ultimately, at 2.5 hours, it's not engaging enough to earn its length. The biggest problem for me though is Cate Blanchett. How this is considered good acting I'll never understand. She's mannered, melodramatic, and every lineThe filmmaking is great. The script, however, is only okay. And ultimately, at 2.5 hours, it's not engaging enough to earn its length. The biggest problem for me though is Cate Blanchett. How this is considered good acting I'll never understand. She's mannered, melodramatic, and every line reading feels entirely rehearsed. You never once feel like you're watching a real human experiencing a real moment. You're only ever watching a 'performance' (and a 1930s Old Hollywood-style performance at that). Even when she's punching a punching bag, she's ACTING punching a punching bag! It's everything acting students are taught NOT to do. A younger Meryl Streep would've been brilliant in this film.… Expand

3 of 6 users found this helpful33

EFRAM

Dec 3, 2022

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I love Cate Blanchett. I like Todd Fields. So why didn't I like Tar. Well, first, it's almost three hours long without a compelling narrative to justify its length. Second, it dances around the main issue brought up by Fields. What happens to a wunderkind conductor, (blanchett) who is at the pinnacle of her career and minutes away from commanding her most impressive achievement yet, who is faced with a scandal that destroys her career and sets her on a path of self destruction. That sounds like a good premise for a film, but Fields never delivers on its promise. Instead we are given a much more than-needed verbose and overly intellectual narrative that presupposes that every viewer of Tar is interested in the intricacies of Music theory and composition, and the inner workings of a conductor's professional existence without fully fleshign out the woman and her motivations behind that existence. As a documentary, this might've worked to some degree, but as a drama the intellectualization of the personal demons of this remarkable woman doesn't do justice to the narrative or Ms. Blanchett's uneven performance. A good example of Fields over intellectualization comes during some of the conducting scenes where Tar is conducting the Berlin philharmonic rehearsals in German but there are no subtitles, so we don't know what she is saying to her orchestra. You'd think in a film about a Conductor reveling in her craft, that you'd want to see exactly what she was saying to her orchestra, but Fields leaves us wondering and annoyed. The first 30 minutes of the film is set at an interview with Lydia Tar and The New Yorker where we go through a biography of her work and her accomplishments along the way. As a creator myself, I've always been told that exposition is the death of great storytelling. In other words, don't tell, SHOW, something Mr. Fields seems to forget as Tar moves forward. The most interesting aspect of the film, namely how this incredibly talented woman is brought down by a sexual scandal is glossed over, told in warped dream sequences and oddly relegated to behind the scenes viewpoint when it should have been front and center. The film comes alive when Tar has to deal with her past relationships, (the main relationship being with another up-and-coming conductor, who ends up committing suicide, naming Tar as the cause of her suicide.) It's a weak construct, made even weaker by Fields inability to fully bring the affair and its consequences to the forefront, something that would give the audience a window into Tar's life and enable the audience to either side with her or against her. Instead, Fields brings another young conductor into the picture, someone Tar obviously has an attraction for, but the plotline happens so far into the film, and never gets fully resolved that by the time we become interested in Tar's new protege, the film is over. These half-hearted attempts to draw us into Tar's inner world, whether it be with her lover Sharon or her stepdaughter Petra left me wondering what this woman is really about. Instead, the film meanders through Tar's professional life, never giving us the depth behind her talent, or allowing us to see the intricacies of her life path. So, in the end, the film delivers an uneven portrait of a fascinating woman, but never fully delivers on the promise of getting under her skin, or into her head where we can either root for her, or understand fully why others are rooting against her.… Expand

4 of 7 users found this helpful43

kaczan3

Apr 12, 2023

Seems like a finger-pointing effort. There is a scene where a guy starts talking about priviledge of white guys, and the protagonist is somehow a voice of reason, correcting him, even though most of her fame stems from the fact that she's "the forst female conductor of a major GermanSeems like a finger-pointing effort. There is a scene where a guy starts talking about priviledge of white guys, and the protagonist is somehow a voice of reason, correcting him, even though most of her fame stems from the fact that she's "the forst female conductor of a major German orchiestra", which movie's marketing informs us of.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

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