Cate Blanchett in "Tár": Great Performance; Bad Film
After all the scandals in recent years involving male conductors and rape/sexual-abuse allegations, why must the first major film about a woman conductor portray her as a predator? While watching Tár I had memories of Basic Instinct , when we were so happy to see lesbians portrayed onscreen that we were willing to overlook the fact that they were psycho killers. Now we are forced to watch a successful, internationally-acclaimed woman conductor (who is also a lesbian), but suffers from major character flaws. Where is this fantasy world where a major symphony orchestra has a woman music director, a woman concert master, and a woman-dominated board of directors? This scenario does not exists, so it is especially frustrating that this fictitious conductor is such an evil character. Throughout the film we are teased with fragments of Mahler's Fifth Symphony, which are so short and disconnected that we are left craving for an uninterrupted performance of the complete ...