Tár is a 2022 psychological drama film written and directed by Todd Field. Cate Blanchett stars as Lydia Tár, a world-renowned conductor, whose life unravels after she is accused of misconduct. Other actors in the film include Nina Hoss, Noémie Merlant, Sophie Kauer, Julian Glover, Allan Corduner, and Mark Strong.

Tár had its first showing at the 79th Venice International Film Festival in September 2022, where Blanchett won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress. After a limited release in theaters for three weeks, the film had a wider release on October 28, 2022, through Focus Features. Tár received praise from critics, especially for Blanchett's performance and Field's screenplay and direction. At the 95th Academy Awards, Tár received six nominations, including Best Picture. Blanchett won the BAFTA, Golden Globe, and Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Actress and was nominated for the Academy Award and Screen Actors Guild Award in the same category. Tár is widely considered one of the greatest films of the 21st century in many respected publications, such as the New York Times, New York, IndieWire, and Rolling Stone.

Plot

Lydia Tár is the chief conductor of an orchestra in Berlin. She works closely with Francesca, her assistant and close friend. During an interview with Adam Gopnik at The New Yorker Festival, Lydia talks about her upcoming recording of Mahler's Fifth Symphony and her memoir, Tár on Tár. She meets with Eliot Kaplan, a banker and amateur conductor who helped start the Accordion Foundation with Lydia to support young female conductors. They discuss conducting techniques, replacing her assistant conductor, Sebastian, with Francesca, and filling a vacant cello position in Berlin.

As a guest lecturer, Lydia teaches a masterclass at Juilliard. When a student says he does not want to study Bach because of his personal views, Lydia advises him to focus on the music rather than the composer’s life. The student leaves in anger. Later that night, Lydia receives a first edition of Vita Sackville-West’s book Challenge, with a hand-drawn kené pattern on the cover, a memory of her trip to Peru. She tears the page and throws it away.

Lydia returns to Berlin, where she lives with her wife, Sharon, the orchestra’s concertmaster, and their daughter, Petra. Before a blind audition for the cello position, Lydia sees a young Russian candidate, Olga Metkina, in the bathroom. Lydia changes her scorecard to help Olga get a spot in the orchestra and suggests Elgar’s Cello Concerto be played with Mahler’s symphony, ensuring Olga gets the soloist role. Lydia’s feelings for Olga cause tension with Francesca and Sharon.

Krista Taylor, a talented musician Lydia once mentored, was blacklisted after a disagreement with Lydia. After sending disturbing emails to Francesca, Krista dies by suicide. Lydia tells Francesca to delete the emails and hire a lawyer after learning Krista’s parents plan to sue her. Lydia informs Sebastian he will be replaced. Upset, Sebastian accuses Lydia of unfair treatment, leading her to decide not to promote Francesca.

Lydia experiences growing sensitivity to sound, strange dreams, daytime hallucinations, constant pain, and mysterious scribbles similar to those Krista once made. While working on a composition for her daughter, she is disturbed by a medical device from her neighbor’s home, where her neighbor cares for her dying mother. Lydia falls and injures herself while following Olga home but tells Sharon she was attacked.

A video of Lydia’s Juilliard class, edited to mislead, goes viral. An article in the New York Post accuses her of inappropriate behavior. Lydia’s Wikipedia page is changed to include these claims. Lydia tries to contact Francesca, who left after being denied a promotion. She breaks into Francesca’s home and finds a draft of Tár on Tár, which Francesca renamed Rat on Rat. Lydia and Olga go to New York for a legal hearing and to promote her book. Protesters gather, and Lydia is shown emails between her and Krista provided by Francesca.

In Berlin, Lydia is removed as conductor due to the controversy. Sharon, angry at Lydia’s dishonesty, stops her from seeing their daughter. Lydia becomes more depressed and confused, retreating to her old studio. She sneaks into a live recording she was supposed to conduct and attacks Eliot, who replaced her. Her management tells her to avoid the public. She returns to her childhood home on Staten Island, where she finds certificates with her birth name, Linda Tarr. Watching an old VHS of Leonard Bernstein’s Young People’s Concerts, she cries. Her brother, Tony, arrives and scolds her for forgetting her past.

In the future, Lydia works as a conductor in the Philippines. A hotel concierge sends her to a massage parlor that also operates as a brothel. Young women wear numbered robes, and one, Number 5, stares at Lydia. She runs outside and vomits. Later, she conducts a live performance of the Monster Hunter video game score for an audience of cosplayers.

Cast

• Cate Blanchett plays the role of Lydia Tár, a renowned composer and conductor
• Noémie Merlant plays the role of Francesca Lentini, Lydia's assistant
• Nina Hoss plays the role of Sharon Goodnow, a first violinist and Lydia's wife
• Sophie Kauer plays the role of Olga Metkina, a young Russian cellist
• Julian Glover plays the role of Andris Davis, Lydia's former colleague
• Allan Corduner plays the role of Sebastian Brix, Lydia's assistant conductor
• Mark Strong plays the role of Eliot Kaplan, an investment banker, amateur conductor, and manager of Lydia's fellowship program
• Adam Gopnik plays the role of himself, Lydia's interviewer at The New Yorker Festival
• Sylvia Flote plays the role of Krista Taylor, a former member of Lydia's fellowship program
• Sydney Lemmon plays the role of Whitney Reese, a fan of Lydia
• Zethphan Smith-Gneist plays the role of Max, a Juilliard student
• Alec Baldwin (voice only) plays the role of himself, interviewing Lydia on his podcast Here's the Thing
• Mila Bogojevic plays the role of Petra, Lydia and Sharon's daughter
• Lee Sellars plays the role of Tony, Lydia's brother

Production

In April 2021, it was announced that Cate Blanchett would star in the film. The film would be written and directed by Todd Field, with production beginning in September 2021. In August 2022, Field said in a statement that he wrote the script specifically for Blanchett and that he would not have made the film if she had not agreed to participate. In September 2021, Nina Hoss and Noémie Merlant joined the cast, and Hildur Guðnadóttir became the film's composer.

In October, Mark Strong told The Guardian that he had completed filming scenes for the movie. In November, it was reported that filming took place in Berlin. Sophie Kauer, Julian Glover, Allan Corduner, and Sylvia Flote joined the cast. Kauer is a British-German classical cellist who studied at the Royal Academy of Music. All music that is part of the story, such as Blanchett's piano playing, Kauer's cello, and performances by the Dresden Philharmonic, was recorded live on set.

Conductor John Mauceri helped advise Field on the script, ensuring that Lydia Tár's comments about classical music and musicians were accurate and appropriate.

Hildur Guðnadóttir composed the original score for the film. Other music, including classical pieces by Gustav Mahler and Edward Elgar, was also included. More than 30 music tracks are in the film.

A concept album with 20 tracks, titled TÁR (Music From And Inspired By The Motion Picture), was released on October 21, 2022. It includes Guðnadóttir's score performed by the London Contemporary Orchestra, a rehearsal of Mahler's Fifth Symphony with Blanchett conducting the Dresden Philharmonic, and new music by Guðnadóttir.

For the week ending November 5, 2022, the Tár concept album reached number one on Billboard magazine's Traditional Classical Albums chart.

In December 2022, Guðnadóttir's score was ruled ineligible for an Oscar because there was not enough original, audible music and because it did not meet the rule that "a score shall not be eligible if it has been diluted by the use of pre-existing music."

Release

Tár had its world premiere at the 79th Venice International Film Festival on September 1, 2022. It had its first North American screening at the 49th Telluride Film Festival on September 3, 2022. The film had a limited theatrical release on October 7, 2022, and then expanded to wide release on October 28.

The film was released for Video on Demand on November 15, 2022. It was later released on Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K UHD on December 20. By March 9, 2023, Samba TV reported that the film had been streamed on Peacock in 458,000 homes in the United States since the Oscar nomination announcement on January 24. JustWatch also reported that, by February 21, the film was the third most-streamed Best Picture nominee in Canada. In the UK, BBC 2 broadcast Tár nationwide on September 14, 2025, with a shorter version lasting 150 minutes.

Reception

The film Tár earned $6.8 million in the United States and Canada, and $22.4 million in other countries, for a total of $29.2 million worldwide.

In its opening weekend in the U.S. and Canada, Tár made $158,620 from four theaters, averaging $39,655 per screen. This was the second-highest per-screen average in 2022 for a limited release. In its second weekend, the film earned $330,030 from 36 theaters. In its third weekend, it made $500,035 from 141 theaters, and some industry experts suggested that Tár showed that "adult-minded fare" could still succeed. However, when the film expanded to 1,087 theaters in its fourth weekend, it earned only $1.02 million, ranking 10th at the box office. Audiences surveyed by PostTrak gave the film a 72% positive score, with 42% saying they would recommend it. In its second week of wide release, the film earned $729,605, a 30% drop from the previous week.

Some critics said the film’s subject matter made it less appealing to general audiences. Others pointed to a larger trend: 40% of U.S. art house theaters had closed permanently during the COVID-19 pandemic, and many struggled to attract their core audience of people aged 40 to 70, who were hesitant to return to theaters. The New York Times reported that Tár cost at least $35 million, including marketing, and that similar highbrow films, such as Licorice Pizza, Nightmare Alley, and The Fabelmans, also failed to attract enough viewers to justify their costs. 78% of the film’s earnings came from overseas.

On Rotten Tomatoes, 91% of 361 critics gave the film positive reviews. The site’s consensus said, "Led by Cate Blanchett’s powerful performance, Tár explores the challenges of fame and power." Metacritic gave the film a score of 93 out of 100, based on 60 critics, indicating "universal acclaim."

Several critics and filmmakers shared their thoughts:
– Owen Gleiberman of Variety wrote a review for the Venice Film Festival.
– A. O. Scott of The New York Times reviewed the film at the Telluride and New York Film Festivals.
– Justin Chang of the Los Angeles Times praised the film.
– Alissa Wilkinson of Vox highlighted its themes.
– David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter and Anthony Lane of The New Yorker offered contrasting opinions.
– Richard Brody of The New Yorker criticized the film, calling it "regressive" and "conservative."

Martin Scorsese presented Tár with the 2022 New York Film Critics Circle Best Film award. Paul Thomas Anderson gave Todd Field the Director Medallion at the DGA Awards.

Conductor Marin Alsop criticized the film, calling it "anti-woman" and saying it offended her as a woman, conductor, and lesbian. Cate Blanchett responded, stating the film was a "meditation on power," which she described as "genderless." Conductor Alice Farnham and critic Emily Bootle defended the film, saying it addressed complex issues about power and identity.

Other critics, including Mark Kermode, Simon Mayo, and Stephanie Zacharek, argued that Tár was not "anti-woman" and explored difficult themes. Music professor Ian Pace and conductor Don Baton supported the film’s portrayal of power and responsibility.

Film critic John McDonald noted that the story would have been cliché if the lead character were male, but Field’s direction showed that similar issues apply to women. Yo Yo Ma praised the film’s artistic depth, and Jonathan Franzen called it a "great work of art."

Zadie Smith praised Cate Blanchett’s performance and compared Todd Field’s direction to Stanley Kubrick’s. A. O. Scott described a classroom scene in the film as a lesson in teaching.

Critic Amanda Hess said the film explored the complexities of cancel culture. Other critics, such as Howie Movshovitz and Philippa Snow, highlighted the film’s open-ended storytelling.

Michelle Goldberg of The New York Times argued that Tár examined cancel culture and encouraged artists to tackle difficult topics. Ara Osterweil of Art Forum said the film challenged exaggerated ideas about cancel culture.

Bernd Brabec, an Austrian scholar, claimed the film used details from his own life and criticized its portrayal of Indigenous people. He wrote an open letter to Todd Field, but Amanda M. Smith, a professor, defended the film’s treatment of the subject.