Tár and that sense of feeling uncomfortable with our present

Tár — Analysis

Director: Todd Field

Genre: Drama

Duration: 2h 38 m

No spoilers

The drama directed by Todd Field, Tár, doesn’t begin with The New Yorker’s journalist interviewing the main character, Tár. It neither begins with the costume designer tailoring Tár’s suit. Nor does it with those initial credits. All of these could’ve been powerful beginnings for such an incredible story, but the real first image is another one and it’s trying to tell you where to look for. It’s the scene in the airplane, where someone very sneaky is sharing a live video with a specific group that wants to see Tár fall. And will see that, for fact.

Judging by the style of the movie, a slow burner dark drama with such an old-fashioned topic for some — orchestral music — , I can imagine this was not the audience’s pick for the weekend. Films like Top Gun: Maverick or Avatar: The Way of Water, were probably more audience friendly. Special effects and all that jazz. I expect that many of you haven’t watched it, so I’ll try not to give away too many details about the movie.

To begin with, Tár is, as mentioned above, a slow-burner drama set in the world of classical music. We follow Tár, a female orchestral conductor, a well respected Maestro. As we go deep inside the film, once we pass those awkward first minutes of heavy yet quite natural dialogue that make the audience start to feel awkward, we start finding out that this story is about power, about what is fair and what’s not and also about the redefinition of an artist, struggling with her biggest nemesis: her own Ego.

Now, Todd Field did too many things right, in the technical aspect. First, he managed to capture the essence of his character and used it in several layers of his movie. Tár, the character, dictates rhythm in every dialogue she is involved, as if she is conducting them. She wins every dialogue, because she is at the center of the world, she is the conductor standing on the podium. The cinematography also tries to show us some rhythmic visual games, like in the tunnels and corridors. The sound mixing has been also carefully crafted and many times, along with the performance, the editing and all, shows a subtle rhythm, too.

But one of the biggest contributions Todd Field did with this movie, is giving us one of the most emblematic scenes, that hopefully, will be studied for a long time in film schools. If you’ve watched it, you immediately knew which is the scene that I am talking about. The sequence shot.

Sometimes but not regularly, we see a movie giving us an image that stays with us forever. Just like Quentin Tarantino and Christoph Waltz have done it in the first sequence in Inglorious Basterds. Also, like Paul Thomas Anderson and Daniel Day-Lewis in that introductory scene that takes us to the devilish oil, in There Will Be Blood. Now, Todd Field and Cate Blanchett have done it too, with the masterclass Tár gives to Julliard students. And don’t get confused. IT IS NOT only about the cinematography, because if we were to talk about one shot sequences, then 1917, Gravity, Birdman and Children of Men had more technical difficulties. It’s more about what Todd Field dares to speak about.

As a society, we might have broken tons of taboos, and yet we seem to create new ones. That scene is not a technical achievement, but a moral one. It challenges the audience to speak about it and to make them feel uncomfortable. Some people may think one way or the other, but we should talk. Great things happen when we do it. It appears, moreover, that movies are not here just to entertain us, because that itself sounds so ironically boring. Movies are here to make us feel something strong, wether we like it or not. Tár the movie, by one hand, gives Tár the character the power to do whatever she wants. She is so despicable. But then it gives the power to someone else. That someone who is video recording and judging Tár. Justice by their own hands. Are we the ones holding on the phone? Are we the ones recording or making fun and enjoying humiliation?

I loved this movie and I felt astonished by absolutely everything. From the acting to the editing. When you seem like nothing is missing, you know there is an amazing crew, also directed by a passionate director, such as Todd Field. I was surprised Mr Field had such a long career as an actor, even appearing in Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut. He has done a couple of movies before Tár: In The Bedroom and Little Children, both movies nominated for the Oscars in the past. We should have expected something special coming from him, but Tár went beyond that. So please, from now on, all eyes on Todd Field.