Lydia Tár’s (Cate Blanchett) career, on the verge of conducting Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 5, is about to change forever after a former student enrolled in her scholarship program accuses her of inappropriate conduct. This accusation, coupled with others, threatens to derail her brilliant career and her personal life with her partner Sharon (Nina Hoss) and their adopted daughter, Petra (Mila Bogojevic).
One of the most frequent questions from audiences who have already seen Tár, the film starring Cate Blanchett and directed by Todd Field, is who Lydia Tár was, the conductor Blanchett portrays masterfully. However, she is a fictional character.
Todd Field ensures that it is not solely the dramatic plot twists that create Tár or that these twists define the audience’s perception of her. Instead, it allows Blanchett an acting freedom where she tests herself in small moments, where the most everyday or seemingly insignificant actions to the plot manage to convey as much or even more of the character in question than the plot itself.