Diandra Movie Review: Why We Are Obsessed With Tár
I have a theory that part of why people are obsessed with Tár is because A) Cate Blanchett is amazing and B) it is an emblem of what cancellation means. In truth, Lydia Tár is horrible or, at the very least, her hubris has made her cruel in replacement for what she thought power would give her: comfort.
Tár has ended careers and, vicariously, lives out of her obsession to have her cake and eat it, too. Sure, she shook tables by being a woman in a predominantly male world, and proving that talent and hard work can get you to the top, but so can villainy. Personally, if you want to make it in the music world, narcissism might be your best friend.
From the beginning, Lydia is magnetic. Blanchett drips with assertiveness and some true observations on art, criticism, and what it means to enjoy and absorb either in a world that feels both hopeless that it will get better and demanding of some saintly perfection in the mean time. In this world, you cannot have flaws as much as you can have redemption, which is why Lydia goes to some mean, even fatal lengths, like manipulating and ending her ex- lovers´ careers just to hold on to an image she both detests and needs: perfection.
Lydia has to not only be dynamite as talent but bright as a figure of it. As I watched Blanchett give one of the most memorable performances I have seen from an actor, Tár sinks in a shipped demise of her own undoing. I felt uncomfortable because A) I would be her victim. Frankly, I have had men and personalities like Lydia manipulate and isolate me from my power and my voice to speak up against them. Yet, B, what shocked me about my discomfort was that, so often, I dreamt of either revenge or like one of Lydia’s exes ending myself. It was either/ or: them or me. Yet, in the end, I felt it all so useless. Lydia´s victim either get revenge or fade in the pain of not being able to do so, and Tar ends up a self-pitying composer for some video game cosplay in Thailand.
It was the first time, in a film, and thanks to Director Todd Field, that I understood why I never liked cancellations, even I have been victim of them or imagined handing them to some of my own villains. At the end of the day, nobody was humbled or relieved. Lydia´s talent and genius was not enough for her to escape her sins and karma, but I also felt silenced by that truth because, in the end, the people she hurt had to heal themselves, for better or worse. Perhaps, what I am trying to say is that revenge or cancellations may protect potential victims but it really do not elevate anyone, including ones who have already fallen prey. Thus, seeing Lydia Tár fall made me wonder …. what could?
