One epiphany that I had recently after re-watching The Lord of the Rings trilogy, is that Cate Blanchett is an amazing actress and one of the greatest ones of our time. I say this because whenever she performs in a movie, she gives it her all. Whether it’s playing a New York socialite in Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine (2013), or a witch in Eli Roth’s horror comedy The House with a Clock in Its Walls (2018), the Australian actress takes whatever assignment she’s given seriously. This is no different with the latest Cate Blanchett film Tár (2022). 

Much like The Banshees of Inisherin (2022), Tár is another 2023 Oscar nominated film that I wanted to see. However, unlike the former, Tár was something I was well aware of through trailers and word of mouth. This was mainly because of Cate Blanchett and reasons that I’ve already stated. The only concern that I had going in was the runtime, which is over two and a half hours. Depending on the type, this then had the potential to be a dealbreaker because of that length. Did I still enjoy it? As usual, let’s find out.

Unlike most reviews where I go into detail about the premise, Tár doesn’t have much of a strong narrative. Whatever story is there is mainly focused on our lead Lydia Tár (Cate Blanchett), who is a world-famous composer-conductor. She has won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and a Tony through her various works, and is the first female chief conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic. A good chunk of the film focuses on her and how she came to be through interviews and lectures. All seems well with her and she is living her best life with her assistant Francesca (Noémie Merlant), her wife Sharon Goodnow (Nina Hoss), and their daughter Petra (Mila Bogojevic). But as the film progresses, Tár gets some potentially life-altering news. During a normal work day, she learns that certain allegations have surfaced, but doesn’t think much of it at the moment. From there, Tár slowly loses control of her world and not only will it cost her an important role for an upcoming performance, but her family and way of life as well.

So, if I had to express my thoughts of Tár as an average movie goer, it would be this: this movie is incredibly boring. For two and a half hours, we just watch a woman go through mundane life with these allegations starting to unfold towards the middle of the film. That being said, I’m not an average movie goer, which means I think it was a brilliant film showcasing an individual on top of the world only to come crashing down based on previous sins. Allow me to elaborate even further.

Make no mistake, I wasn’t kidding about the words I used when describing Tár in the previous paragraph. To some, the long use of dialogue and scenes that feel like fillers can indeed feel boring. I, on the other hand, was transfixed by the exchanges between Cate Blanchett and the other key players in her life. Even though we don’t get to the conflict of the film until over an hour into it, I was already invested within the life story of Lydia Tár and felt worried about her because of my emotional investment. Then, as soon as the allegations become more transparent, the more I started to sympathize her less. Still, I was more intrigued by her downfall due to her past catching up to her. As mentioned earlier, it’s a slow burn, but it’s well worth it.

Viewing Tár more through a Catholic perspective, I feel like the message here is that sins can find a way to come back to you. I often find myself seeing and/or hearing something and it will trigger a bad memory of a sin from my past that I felt guilty about. Though, in retrospect, it is a good thing because it means I acknowledged that it was a sin and better choices can be made from here on out. While it is pretty vague on the full details of the allegations against Tár, it’s pretty clear that it was bad enough that her lifestyle starts to fall apart in a way she didn’t see coming. It probably could’ve been avoided if she atoned for her sins in a proper manner. Luckily, us Catholics have Confession. Unfortunately, she doesn’t, which leads to her downfall.

I think it goes without saying that I did enjoy Tár very much to where I can just enjoy it via audio only. However, it’s a film with a caveat that it can be viewed as a boring film because it’s almost three hours of a lot of talking. That said, I do hope a good number of people check this out for themselves and I wouldn’t be surprised if I did get a positive response from them. In fact, I took a good friend of mine to see it where they don’t see Oscar nominated films to the same degree as me, and they also enjoyed it quite a bit. While I did enjoy the dialogue, there were some scenes that did feel excessive towards the end, though I understand why they were in the final cut. Other than that, if you don’t mind lengthy scenes and the downfall of an individual told through a two-and-a-half-hour narrative, then I feel like you may enjoy Tár quite a bit.