Despite a wonderful lead performance, TÁR meanders and slowly boils throughout its beefy 2 hour and 38 minute runtime merely to communicate “Life is challenging no matter your title”. While the final act is the most compelling, I wasn’t sure if the journey to get there was quite worth it, as you are required to sit through so many scenes that are duly repetitive (we see Lydia, our lead, wake up in the middle of the night and several scenes of her going for an insignificant run 4-6x throughout the film). While these scenes are scattered throughout to build Lydia’s paranoid character, the film was a bit of a chore to sit through due to the repetitive nature of several unengaging scenes. 

TÁR features Cate Blanchett as the titular character Lydia Tár, a master conductor who faces challenges before the recording of a career-elevating symphony. The story follows this character as she faces an array of difficulties at work and personal life with co-workers, wife, and her child. 

The problem with TÁR is that no particular conflict goes in any elaborate direction. The point of this aimlessness is to show tension building from different angles and while that’s how life realistically works, it doesn’t make for a compelling story. There’s no central conflict and the sprinkled challenges spread throughout the movie is not enough to fully satisfy. The story does effectively make you feel how someone who has attained much throughout her life can slowly but surely begin to have her life cave in and discombobulate. 

Cate Blanchett does strongly elevate the hollow narrative and I would not be surprised if she’s a contender in the upcoming Best Actress Oscar race. The script requires much dialogue from her character and the way she delivers her lines is intriguing to watch; she has much variance in her tone that accurately reflects Lydia’s mental disposition and to see her character communicate with family, friends, or co-workers was always interesting.

Monika Willi does an outstanding job editing the film, particularly the musical scenes. They are in sync and were simply a bit more intriguing to watch due to the way they were all stitched together.

TÁR may be appreciated more by classical musician enthusiasts, as the film has much jargon relating to music. I would be lying if I professed to enjoy the film. Therefore, I had to spend a chunk of this review articulating in the best way I could why I believe the content did not connect with me. However, I am in the minority of critics who did not like this film so statistically, you’re more likely to enjoy this film more than I did. I would love to hear your thoughts below.

TÁR is currently playing at the Regal Edwards Greenway Grand Palace in Houston, TX as of this writing.