What’s it about?

Lydia Tár is a legendary composer and conductor at the apex of her career, but her carefully controlled life begins to unravel as she prepares for a career-defining recording.

What’d we think?

Peter Linning says: Tár is such an immersive and fascinating portrait of an individual that it takes a while before the story of the film begins to reveal itself, as Tár’s character is the story. Cate Blanchett delivers the best performance of her career, and towers over the film with her frighteningly believable portrayal of a charismatic, brilliant, and ultimately pretty shitty woman.
The film throws you headfirst into a highbrow world of sophisticated and intellectual characters, but never veers into pretentiousness. While the cracks that begin to spread through Tár’s professional and personal life are of her own making, Blanchett creates enough sympathy for her monstrous character that you can’t help but be pulled along with her.
It’s an absolutely gripping film and a fantastic bit of work from everyone involved.
9/10

Sam Donaldson says: Based solely on the poster, I was convinced that Todd Field’s first movie in 16 years was a biopic of a composer I’d definitely heard of (because I’m fancy and like fancy music). To my surprise, it was a slow burn — a character piece about an egotistical narcissist’s world slowly crumbling around her. My movie-watching experience was interesting: I tried to get ahead of it, unpacking every mystery, every sound, every image. But I suggest letting it wash over you, because it begs for a rewatch. Scenes that appear innocuous at first are revealed to have a much deeper meaning behind them.
It would be too simplistic to call this a ‘cancel culture’ movie, it’s much more than that. It’s tense and often beautiful. I loved it, Cate Blanchett should get that brass.
9.5/10