after – After a director’s sabbatical, filmmaker Todd Field returns with his third feature film and the most talked-about film of the year: The Stunning and Masterful Tár(. The screenplay for the film is star Cate Blanchett, who puts on perhaps the best performance of her career as world-renowned conductor Lydia Tal. However, her company was fine, joining a magnetic all-female ensemble that included Portrait of a Lady on Fire star Noémie Merlant. The French actor takes her quiet intensity to the extreme, playing Francesca, Lydia’s personal assistant, herself an aspiring conductor who helps shape the psychological thriller’s devastating arc.
The story unfolds over a whirlwind of three weeks as two major events take place in Lydia’s life: Mahler’s Fifth Symphony Delaying the show and the release of her memoir, a book titled Tar on Tar . As the film opens and preparations begin, Lydia, dressed in an elegant, understated hand-cut suit with a comb-back turban, has her competent assistant by her side—an artist enjoying hard-earned success, riding a private Images of the plane trip where she conducts a large orchestra from her home in Berlin and meets with her publisher and the head of her mentorship program in New York. But nothing in Field’s films — biopics of fictional characters, Blanchett films without passion, #MeToo stories without a clear morality — shouldn’t be taken at face value.
” when I watch this movie , it’s different every time I see it. The second time, it’s like a thriller or a horror movie. We’re in Lydia’s head, and she’s starting to go a little crazy. I have a feeling she sometimes doesn’t even know What are you doing,” Merant told Vogue
. “I think it’s a movie where you can go from one viewing to another and feel completely different.”
As described by Melante, this movie is from Lydia Unreliable It happens from an angle, rarely seeing the psychology of other characters. (Occasionally, viewers catch a glimpse of a character’s email or text exchanges, but those clues reveal more about Lydia than their author.) It’s not hard to see the guru, though, who often can’t contain her own neuroses. and parochial self-interest, often ripping people off in the wrong way, including Francesca.
Noémie Merlant at Todd Field’s
TÁR as Francesca Lentini, a focus feature version.
Photo: Provided by the focus function
In an early scene in the film, as Lydia NEW YORKER
Writer Adam Gopnik kicks off her advocacy journey despite partner and young When her daughter returned, she was still openly flirting with flattering fans at home; later while on the road, while teaching a masterclass at Juilliard, she scolded a student for their disrespect after they dismissed Bach as a dead white cis man Identity politics is naive. Back in Berlin, the master really leaned into her unbridled side. She asked her aides to cover up an emerging scandal involving former protege Christa Taylor (Sylvia Flote). Threatening her daughter Petra (Mira Bogojevich) with violence on a playground bully; and fast-tracking a young new cellist, Olga (Sophie Kaur), who arouses her Notice. Although Francesca – one of the conductor’s past conquerors who also happens to be waiting for a long overdue promotion – and Lydia’s partner, the orchestra’s first violin, Sharon (Nina Hoss) ), apparently familiar with the behavior, even if they quickly tire of Lydia’s quirks.
” Francesca admires Lydia; she loves her. But no one in this story is black and white Yes. No one is a villain or a hero,” Merant said. “For example, like Krista, she was very disappointed with Lydia’s behavior. At the same time, not only that. It was also jealousy. It was also shame and anger for not getting what she deserved.
“It’s not a moral movie,” Merlant added “Todd is amazing in that, he’s talking about the complexity of humans and the complexity of human relationships. “
Even without morality, Tár( proposed Plenty of questions about morality, power, and timely topics like grooming and cancellation culture. And, at its core, it’s a story about women who are romantically involved with women, and it encourages viewers to think that these issues have nothing to do with gender, and It’s all about gender. This includes taking a hard look at whether we should (or should) judge Lydia differently because she’s a gay woman, because she works in a male-dominated industry, because she has children, or Because of anything related to her identity. “The film asks a lot of questions about what we’re dealing with [as a society] and being asked to have an opinion – very fast when we need time to talk and think. ,” Merlant said. “I don’t think it answers those questions, but it asks them and people talk about them. “
as Marianne, a portrait painter who falls in love with women MOVIE Portrait of a Lady on Fire
. She is also Jacques Odyard One of the stars of Paris Area , about Queer Love Quadrangle in the Digital Age, released earlier this year.
The actress, who started her career as a director in An extra on a previous film by Muse, she said she was looking for roles that would represent women because they exist NOW
– as Have Desires, they both have power and are seeking it, they struggle with more than just fitting into gender ideals.
“As an artist, in general, I feel that film should speak to the world. And, for now, film only represents A small part of the world: the one who controls everything,” Mellant said. “One of the most important things we have to do in film is inclusion — and representation — because that’s how we change the world and inequality. Film is a very powerful weapon. You can change a lot of things with film .”
While Merlant believes Tár( can be set in any creative realm, she sees Lydia’s world— And the relationship between conductors and musicians — certain parallels. And movies, directors and actors. The pitfall of making art, she points out, is that it can consume everything. “In the film, Lydia is obsessed with creating and getting lost in it. Creating can be crazy; you really have to be aware of what you’re doing,” Merlant said. “A director has so much power and so much responsibility at the same time that it can be dangerous for others. Like musicians, we (actors) use our bodies, our souls and our emotions Come create. It’s magic. But it can be really hard, painful, and sometimes out of control.” Like many actors, Merant faced quite a few hurdles in the film. Industry — especially as a former extra — but it’s not just those experiences that really inspired her performance as Francesca was working across from Blanchett. “I adored Cate Blanchett for a long, long time, even before I acted,” she said. “Francesca has been learning and observing from Lydia Tár, observing her creative process. I am watching Kate’s.”
