Tár

Tár is a 2022 psychological drama film about Lydia Tár, widely considered one of the greatest living composer-conductors and the very first female director of a major German orchestra. Directed and written by Todd Field. Lydia Tár Don't be so eager to be offended. The narcissism of small differences leads to the most boring kind of conformity. You want to dance the mask, you must service the composer. You gotta sublimate yourself, your ego, and, yes, your identity. You must, in fact, stand in front of the public and God and obliterate yourself. The problem with enrolling yourself as an ultrasonic epistemic dissident is that if Bach's talent can be reduced to his gender, birth country, religion, sexuality, and so on, then so can yours. Now, some day, Max, when you go out into the world, and you guest conduct for a major or minor orchestra, you may notice that the players have more than light bulbs and music on their stands. They will also have been handed rating sheets - the purpose of which is to rate you. Now, what kind of criteria would you hope that they use to do this? Your score reading and stick technique, or something else? There's no glory for a robot, Eliot. Do your own thing! It's my score! You fucking, little nothing! It is always the question that involves the listener, never the answer. Other Eliot Kaplan: The last thing I need is to be buttonholed in here by someone exactly like me. Dialogue Lydia Tár: Is there something wrong with the water? Cirio: No. There are crocodiles. Lydia Tár: Oh. I didn't think they'd be this far inland. Cirio: They escaped from a Marlon Brando movie. Lydia Tár: Wow. That was a long time ago. Cirio: They survived. Lydia Tár: Have you ever played—or, or conducted Bach? Max: [He shakes his head] Honestly, as a BIPOC, pangender person, I would say Bach's misogynistic life makes it kind of—impossible for me to take his music seriously. Lydia Tár: Come on. What do you—what do you mean by that? Max: Well, didn't he sire like—20 kids? Lydia Tár: Yes, that's documented. Along with a considerable amount of music. But I'm sorry, I'm—I'm unclear as to what his prodigious skills in the marital bed have to do with B minor. Sure. No, whatever. That's—that's your choice. I mean, after all a soul selects her own society, but remember the flip-side of that selection closes the valves of one's attention. Now, of course, siloing what is acceptable or not acceptable is a basic construct of many if not most symphony orchestras today, who see it as their . . . imperial right to curate for the cretins. So, slippery as it is, there is some merit in examining Max's 'allergy'. Can classical music—written by a bunch of straight, Austro-German, church-going white guys—exult us, individually, as well as collectively, and who, may I ask, gets to decide that? You know, what about Beethoven? You into him? Because for me, as a U-Haul lesbian, I'm—I'm not sure about old Ludwig. But then, I face him. And I find myself nose-to-nose with his magnitude. And inevitability. Come Max. Indulge me. Let's allow Bach a similar gaze. [She takes a seat at an upright piano onstage, lifts the lid, and begins to play Bach's Prelude in C Major] Sit. Now this is all filigree, right? I mean it could be a first-year piano student. Or Schroeder playing for Lucy [sung to the music] Or . . . Glenn Gould for that matter [she changes how she's playing to emulate Gould] Now . . . it's not until it changes, you get inside it, that you hear what it really is. It's a question. And an answer. Which begs another question. There's a humility in Bach. He's not pretending he's certain about anything, because he knows—it's always the question that involves the listener. It's never the answer, right? Now the big question for you is . . . what do you think Max? [she abruptly stops playing] Max: [he makes a frustrated sound] Ah. You play really well. But nowadays, white, male, cis composers—just not my thing. Lydia Tár: [Lydia grabs his leg to stop him from tapping his foot nervously] Don't be so eager to be offended. The narcissism of small differences leads to the most boring conformity. Max: I guess Edgard Varèse is okay. I mean I like Arcana, anyway . . . Lydia Tár: [She stands up] Oh well then you must be aware that Varèse once famously stated that 'Jazz was a negro product exploited by the jews' . . . didn't stop Jerry Goldsmith from ripping him off for his Planet of the Apes score. That's kind of a perfect insult, don't you think. But you see, the problem with enrolling yourself as an ultrasonic, epistemic dissident is that if Bach's talent can be reduced to his gender, birth country, religion, sexuality, and so on, then so can yours. Now, someday Max when you go out into the world and you guest conduct for a major, or minor, orchestra, you may notice that the players have more than lightbulbs and music on their stands. They will also have been handed rating sheets. The purpose of which is to rate you. Now, what kind of criteria would you hope that they would use to do this? Your score-reading and stick technique, or something else? Alright everyone, using Max's criteria let's consider Max's thing. In this case Anna Thorvaldsdóttir. Now, can we agree on two pieces of observation? One, that Anna was born in Iceland. And two, that she is, in—I don't know—a Waldorf-teacher kind of way, a super hot young woman. Show of hands. [Everyone raises their hands] Alright, now let's turn our gaze back to the piano bench up there and see if we can square how any of those things possibly relate to the person we see seated before us. [Max slams the piano lid, stands up, gathers his things, and makes for the door] Max: You're a fucking bitch. Lydia Tár: And you are a robot. I mean, unfortunately, the architect of your soul appears to be social media. You wanna dance the mask, you must service the composer. You gotta sublimate yourself. Your ego, and yes, your identity. You must in fact stand in front of the public and God and obliterate yourself. Lydia Tár: [Referring to Mahler's Adagietto Symphony 5] And this piece was not born into aching tragedy. It was born into young love. Adam Gopnik: And so you chose... Lydia Tár: Love. Adam Gopnik: Right, but precisely how long? Lydia Tár: Well, seven minutes! Olga Metkina: You have a child? Lydia Tár: Yes. Olga Metkina: I will never do that! Lydia Tár: Pets are best for some people. Bernstein Now we can really understand what the meaning of music is. It's the way it makes you feel when you hear it. Finally we've taken that last giant step and we're there, we know what music is now. And we don't have to know about sharps, and flats, and chords, and all that business in order to understand music if it tells us something. And most wonderful thing of all is that there's no limit to different kinds of feelings that music can make you have. And some of those feeling are so special and so deep that they can't even be described in words. You see we can't always mean the things we feel. Sometimes we can. We can say we feel joy, pleasure, peacefulness, whatever. Love, hate. But ever once in a while we have feelings that are so deep and so special that we have no words for them. And that's where the music is so marvelous. Because music names them for us, only in notes instead of in words. It's all in the way music moves. You must never forget that music is movement, always going somewhere, shifting and changing and flowing from one note to another. And that movement can tell us more about the way we feel than a million words can. Cast Cate Blanchett - Lydia Tár Nina Hoss - Sharon Goodnow Noémie Merlant - Francesca Lentini Sophie Kauer - Olga Metkina Julian Glover - Andris Davis Allan Corduner - Sebastian Brix Mark Strong - Eliot Kaplan Sylvia Flote - Krista Taylo Adam Gopnik - himself Mila Bogojevic - Petra Zethphan Smith-Gneist - Max Lee Sellars - Tony Tarr Sydney Lemmon - Whitney Reese External links 14444726 Tár Category:Films directed by Todd Field Category:2022 American films Category:Films set in Berlin Category:German films Category:2022 independent films Category:LGBT-related films Category:Musical films Category:Psychological drama films Category:Films about sexual harassment Category:2022 English-language films Category:American independent films