TÁR

While the dialogue is at times above the level of understanding for the majority of moviegoers, it doesn't detract from following or even embracing this film. Blanchett gives a superb performance in a role that I mistakenly believed was based on a true story. I now find it even more impressive that she managed to take on and embody such a realistic character based on no such real person. At its core, Tar is the story of a problematic groundbreaker - the kind of person who breaks the glass ceiling and then proceeds to break the glass ceiling for others...all while destroying some of the very lives she sought to elevate. Knowingly or not, Tar is a kind of vengeful predator, and it's somewhat encouraging for the audience that by the end of the film, she seems to have even the slightest hint of understanding of how she wronged others - and she's physically revolted by it. All in all, I really enjoyed this film. it stayed true to the world it is trying to be a part of and refused to dumb down any of its classical music jargon for viewers like myself who know very little. While this may be offputting to some, I found it refreshing as it felt like I was truly a fly on the wall for the conversations within.  ____________________A note for a more film-student focused audience:  I would argue that this film has some horror/suspense aspects to it, the "drama" genre it was assigned be damned. There is this lingering question within the film, unspoken but visible, and later treated almost like a momentary public psychotic break/serious lapse in judgment (when she attacks Kaplan at the podium)...is Tar losing her mind? For how long has she been losing it? How deeply haunted is she by her actions or perceived actions? Is it the guilt that eats at her, or is there someone actually in her home, driving her mad? I noticed at least 3 instances of the figure of a person in her private moments, but it is never addressed in the film - 1 - once in her shared bedroom with Sharon, when she awakens to find the first noise that begins to irk her 2 - once in her private home she keeps on the side, also when she begins to investigate the incessant beeping from the neighbors 3 - if I recall correctly, this time was also in her home she shares with Sharon 4 - we could even count a fourth time, where a figure is not seen, but rather felt, by Tar's daughter Petra. Petra stares directly at us, as we are given an adult-level sightline into her room through the doorway. We are peering in, like a parent checking on the sleeping child. Petra looks us dead-on and hugs mama Tar tighter and covers her eyes, as though she's fearful of what she sees in the doorway. Are we the guilt that haunts Tar? The guilt that threatens to destroy her family? Tar has always wanted an audience, but are we the audience she desperately desires not to attract? The kind of audience that will ultimately tear her family apart, and rip young Petra out of her frightened embrace? Perhaps Petra has already seen and heard the writing on the walls through school friends and fears her mother's impending departure from her young life... I have so many questions. The framing of these scenes...the choice to add a suspenseful, blurred, yet never addressed figure (as far as I could tell with one watch, there was a female shaped figure that recurred) in certain scenes...again, this film has horror and suspense aspects at times in my opinion, and I will die on this hill!