TÁR

after actually seeing TÁR, it is astonishing to me that anyone (twitter) holds either of these two beliefs about this movie: a) lydia tár is not that bad/this film is a dig on cancel culture/she didn't deserve everything that happened b) lydia tár was portrayed as a sympathetic protagonist/TÁR doesn't take a firm stance on the issues it's showing at every possible opportunity, lydia tár misuses her power to get what she wants or to make other people feel small. people love to talk about the juilliard scene as if it was an even playing field argument between tár and her student, but they were her student, and she gets up in front of their peers and essentially attempts to humiliate or trap them. it doesn't matter who is right, it matters who is abusing their position. in this way, TÁR is a greek tragedy -- we follow a power-mad protagonist and watch her lust for control gradually destroy everything she's worked for and lead her to start again from nothing. as i read TÁR, todd field is showing very plainly his stance: the burden of ending the cycle of abuse falls not only to the abusers to those people -- and those systems -- that enable it.