---
title: "TÁR"
year: 2022
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/tar"
fi1m_score: 84
critics_score: 83
critics_reviews: 32
published: "2026-09-20T08:45:54.954830+00:00"
updated: "2026-09-20T08:45:55.222621+00:00"
region: "US"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# TÁR (2022)

Directed by Todd Field · 2h 38m · MPA R · Music, Drama

**Fi1m score: 84** · Critics 83 from 32 reviews

*In a sentence:* Two and a half hours with a woman who can control every sound in a concert hall and none of the ones in her flat

> Todd Field’s first film in sixteen years is a long, cold, exact portrait of a conductor whose power is running out, and Cate Blanchett fills every frame of it. It runs twenty minutes too long and refuses to say what it thinks. We recommend it warmly.

## Synopsis

Lydia Tár (Cate Blanchett) is the chief conductor of a major Berlin orchestra, the first woman to have the job, and she is at the top. On a New York stage she is interviewed about her record by Adam Gopnik, playing himself, and at Juilliard she takes a masterclass in which she dismantles a student who will not study Bach. Back in Berlin she is preparing a live recording of Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, with her assistant Francesca (Noémie Merlant) at her elbow and her partner Sharon (Nina Hoss), the orchestra’s first violin, at home with their daughter Petra (Mila Bogojevic). Emails keep arriving concerning Krista Taylor (Sylvia Flote), a former student. Then a young Russian cellist, Olga (Sophie Kauer), joins the orchestra, and Lydia notices her.

## Review

Todd Field has not made a film since *Little Children* in 2006, and he has come back with a portrait of a woman used to being the most important person in any room. Lydia Tár (Cate Blanchett) conducts a major Berlin orchestra, and the film opens with Adam Gopnik, playing himself, reading her achievements to a New York audience for what feels like several minutes while she sits and lets him. Field then spends 158 minutes watching what she does with all that. It is cold, exact and good, and it asks for more patience than it always repays.

The scene that tells you what you are in for comes early. Lydia takes a masterclass at Juilliard, a student says he cannot get on with Bach because of how Bach lived, and she takes him apart. Florian Hoffmeister films it in a single take that follows her round the classroom, so there is no cut to hide behind and no reaction shot to tell us what to think. Blanchett does it at conversational volume, sitting at the piano, tapping out a few bars. We laughed at nearly every line, and about halfway through we noticed we were enjoying watching a powerful woman humiliate a twenty-year-old, and the laugh curdled. That is the film’s method: it lets you like her and then sends you the bill.

Back in Berlin the film goes quiet. Marco Bittner Rosser gives Lydia and her partner Sharon a flat of bare concrete and long corridors, where a footstep carries, and Hoffmeister lights it in flat grey so the rooms look like the inside of a recording studio. Bina Daigeler puts Lydia in dark tailored suits, and a scene of two tailors fitting her for one tells you how much of this woman is cut and pressed. Hildur Guðnadóttir has written almost no score. What we hear is Mahler’s Fifth in rehearsal and then, in the flat at night, a metronome ticking in a drawer, a doorbell, a woman screaming somewhere in a park while Lydia is out running. We spent the middle hour listening for the next small wrong noise, and those unnerved us more than anything in the plot.

Nina Hoss plays Sharon, the orchestra’s first violin, and does most of her acting by watching: from the strings, from the bed, from a doorway when Lydia comes home late. She is the one person who knows exactly what Lydia is, and Hoss lets us see her deciding how much of it she can afford to know. Noémie Merlant’s Francesca, the assistant, has learned to keep her face still. Sophie Kauer’s Olga, the new cellist, is not afraid of Lydia, and the film wisely never explains why. Mark Strong is Eliot Kaplan, a banker who conducts on the side and wants to be told he is good.

Monika Willi cuts the film in ellipses. Conversations begin halfway through, scenes end a beat before their point lands, and much of what matters happens off screen, in emails Lydia deletes and in the name of a former student, Krista Taylor, that people keep not saying. Field never shows us what Lydia did. He shows the aftermath and the faces of the people managing it, and leaves us to decide how bad it was. A few critics have called this cowardice, or the film siding with her against her accusers. We do not read it that way. It is on nobody’s side, and it does not need to make her stupid to make its point.

It is too long. The second hour circles the same three rooms for a stretch where nothing tightens, and Julian Glover’s retired conductor, Andris, exists to give Lydia someone to be nostalgic with and not much else. Then the last twenty minutes take the film somewhere we will not describe. The tone shifts hard, some of the audience we saw it with laughed, and we still cannot say whether Field means it as punishment, joke or release. We have come round to thinking he does not mind which we pick.

Blanchett is the reason to see it, and it is not a small reason. She conducts, speaks German and plays the piano on screen, none of it looks like a stunt, and the film’s best passages are simply her in a black shirt in front of an orchestra, working. See it in a cinema if you can, for the Mahler and for the silences, which are doing as much as the music. It runs 158 minutes. You will feel about twenty of them.

*Fi1m score 84, published 20 September 2026.*

## What the critics say

Most critics rate TÁR highly: thirty of the thirty-two reviews are positive, and the praise lands in the same place almost every time. Cate Blanchett’s performance as the conductor Lydia Tár is the first thing nearly everyone mentions, described as commanding, ferocious and finely controlled. Todd Field’s direction is credited close behind, for the detail with which it builds the orchestra’s world, for its patience and precision, and for the way it moves from dry comedy towards something closer to horror.

The reservations are few and mostly mild. Some find the film unsure whether Tár’s fall is tragedy or joke, several doubt it says anything new about cancel culture, and one or two find the long Juilliard scene grating. The two outright dissenters go further. The New Yorker calls the film regressive and disjointed, arguing it treats its protagonist as the victim of false attacks, while Eye for Film finds Tár a construct that never gets under the skin.

### Reviews we read (32)

- **Time Out**, Phil de Semlyen (5/5): The critic hails the film as chilly, severe, distancing yet utterly captivating, with formidable filmmaking intelligence. Blanchett’s spellbinding, Oscar-worthy turn as the sociopathic conductor is the standout element. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/tar-2022)
- **IndieWire**, David Ehrlich (A): The critic calls it a thrilling, dense portrait that goes far beyond a simple take on cancel culture. Blanchett's commanding performance as the spiraling conductor is highlighted for its gravitas and control. [Read](https://www.indiewire.com/2022/09/tar-review-cate-blanchett-1234756851/)
- **The AV Club**, Murtada Elfadl (A): The critic hails the film as an immersive event and indelible portrait of intellect waylaid by privilege. Blanchett's bewitching performance as the cruel narcissist conductor is singled out for its depth and intuition. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/tar-review-cate-blanchett-todd-field-1849619352)
- **Empire**, Ian Freer (90/100, inferred): The critic deems it a masterwork and essential granular character study of a complex powerhouse, singling out Blanchett's career-best, perfectly modulated performance that commands respect without judgment. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/tar/)
- **Evening Standard**, Charlotte O'Sullivan (90/100, inferred): The critic calls it the bleakest and funniest film about systemic sleaze since Promising Young Woman, praising Blanchett's outdoing performance as the flawed maestro and the film's nuanced take on power and abuse. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/tar-tar-movie-review-cate-blanchett-sophie-kauer-sleaze-b1052295.html)
- **Los Angeles Times**, Justin Chang (90/100, inferred): The critic hails Cate Blanchett at the peak of her powers in a magnificent cinematic symphony that respects audience intelligence. Field's clarity and rigor in imagining the character's inner and outer worlds, along with his mastery of cinematic time, are singled out for praise. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2022-10-06/tar-review-cate-blanchett-todd-field)
- **Sight and Sound** (90/100, inferred): The critic finds Todd Field’s film a gripping, brilliant masterpiece despite its rarefied classical-music milieu. Blanchett’s mesmerising central performance as the monstrous conductor is singled out as perhaps the season’s first truly irreplaceable star turn. [Read](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/tar-sly-scabrous-symphony)
- **The Guardian** (90/100, inferred): The critic calls the film phenomenal and magnificent, praising its masterly direction that mirrors the protagonist's slippery genius and the electrifying central performance. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/jan/14/tar-review-todd-field-cate-blanchett-dazzles-as-monstrous-maestro)
- **The Hollywood Reporter** (90/100, inferred): The critic praises the film as a mesmerizing character study and a major work from Todd Field. Blanchett's astonishing performance as the flinty, self-possessed conductor is singled out as the key talking point. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/tar-cate-blanchett-todd-field-1235207357/)
- **The i Paper**, Christina Newland (90/100, inferred): The critic hails it as a film of rare and wild excellence with chilly virtuosity in style, performance and ideas, calling Blanchett's imperious turn stellar and the film essential cinema that intelligently handles cancel culture and ethics. [Read](https://inews.co.uk/culture/film/tar-review-cate-blanchett-magnificently-imperious-woman-freefall-2077835)
- **The Telegraph** (90/100, inferred): The critic hails the film as superb and electrifying, singling out Cate Blanchett's towering performance as one of the most memorable fictional characters in recent cinema. [Read](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/tar-review-searing-cate-blanchett-first-cancel-culture-thriller/)
- **The Times**, Kevin Maher (★★★★☆): The critic describes a glorious monster of a film with a weighty portrait of crisis and scandal, praising Cate Blanchett's giant, Oscar-worthy performance above all. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/life-style/article/tar-review-cate-blanchett-oscar-worthy-conductor-meltdown-qwqz5vrj7)
- **Total Film**, Jane Crowther (90/100, inferred): The critic praises the ambitious film as worthy of applause for its full-fat exploration of artistry, highlighting the care in building Lydia’s character and the transporting, virtuosic orchestra scenes. [Read](https://www.gamesradar.com/tar-review-venice/)
- **Vulture** (90/100, inferred): The critic deems it a total knockout that is austere and dryly hilarious, impossible to separate from its lead performance. Blanchett's intense, awful, and awe-inspiring portrayal of the ego-driven artist is singled out for its richness. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/2022/10/tar-review-cate-blanchett-brilliantly-undoes-an-ego-monster.html)
- **RogerEbert.com**, Glenn Kenny (85/100, inferred): The critic finds the film a rare prestige awards contender that doubles as a genuine art film, with Field's direction creating an insinuating and enigmatic narrative. Blanchett's committed performance as the flawed conductor is highlighted alongside the film's meticulous research into the classical music world. [Read](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/tar-movie-review-2022)
- **Variety**, Owen Gleiberman (85/100, inferred): The critic calls it the work of a master filmmaker, a ruthless but intimate tale of art, lust, obsession, and power that immerses viewers like a thriller through precise and authentic detail. Blanchett's ferocious performance as the conductor is highlighted as a study in power, passion, and entitlement. [Read](https://variety.com/2022/film/reviews/tar-review-cate-blanchett-todd-field-1235356652/)
- **Little White Lies**, Ege Apaydın (4/4/5): The critic calls the film the funniest horror film of 2022 and praises Blanchett’s best performance in years as an unforgettable character. Field is commended for showing the haunting of Lydia Tár rather than her abuses directly. [Read](https://lwlies.com/reviews/tar/)
- **Radio Times**, Emma Simmonds (4/5): The critic praises the film as a fascinating, fleshed-out portrait of a tremendously troubling woman. Blanchett is singled out for blazing brightly in a commanding performance that captures both musical authority and vindictiveness. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-4y9fg4/tr/)
- **The New York Times**, A.O. Scott (80/100, inferred): The critic calls it a chilly, timely backstage drama in which Cate Blanchett stars as a world-famous conductor heading for a fall. Field's ruthless detachment and fanatical control are praised as he moves from dry comedy to gothic horror while convincingly portraying the protagonist's musical genius and personal flaws. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/06/movies/tar-review.html)
- **Slant Magazine** (3/4): The critic notes that the film can't quite decide if Tár's comeuppance is tragedy or joke, with absorbing orchestration in parts. Blanchett's look-at-me acting style undercuts a fully human portrayal of the conductor. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/tar-review-cate-blanchett-todd-field/)
- **Screen Daily** (70/100, inferred): The critic calls the film considerably thought-provoking for adventurous arthouse crowds, with Cate Blanchett exceptional in an enigmatic character study. The film’s refusal to clarify its stance on its complicated heroine is noted as a strength. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/tar-venice-review/5173687.article)
- **The New Yorker**, Richard Brody (30/100, inferred): The critic deems the film regressive, taking bitter aim at cancel culture and identity politics while presenting its protagonist as a victim of false attacks. Despite Blanchett's skillful performance, Field fails to forge dramatic unity in a disjointed series of scenes. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-front-row/tar-reviewed-regressive-ideas-to-match-regressive-aesthetics)
- **Collider**, Brian Formo (A-): The critic praises Blanchett's masterful performance as the core of the film, highlighting the nuanced portrayal of power and ego in a long runtime that allows for deep character exploration. They single out the organic way secrets and power dynamics are revealed through performance rather than exposition. [Read](https://collider.com/tar-review-cate-blanchett-todd-field/)
- **Deadline**, Todd McCarthy (90/100, inferred): The film creates an exceptionally detailed portrait of a promethean artist eventually hoisted on her own petard. It offers an absorbing high-end drama about a brilliant female conductor, with Cate Blanchett delivering a dazzling performance. [Read](https://deadline.com/2022/09/tar-review-cate-blanchett-todd-field-venice-film-festival-1235105330/)
- **The Wrap** (90/100, inferred): Todd Field’s drama is a razor-sharp character study that puts Cate Blanchett at her peak in a showcase for her fiery performance. It engages playfully and provocatively with hot-button topics while observing the protagonist’s fall with eerie calm. [Read](https://www.thewrap.com/tar-film-review-cate-blanchett/)
- **NME**, Nick Levine (85/100, inferred): The critic calls the film riveting for its exploration of power and privilege, crediting Todd Field with creating a believable world and character. Blanchett delivers a virtuoso, note-perfect performance as the brilliant yet self-absorbed, manipulative conductor. [Read](https://www.nme.com/reviews/film-reviews/tar-review-cate-blanchett-oscar-3380533)
- **The Ringer**, Adam Nayman (80/100, inferred): The critic highlights Blanchett's stunning performance in a dense, forensic examination of elite artistic life and the cracks in a cult of personality, praising the unexpected ending and the film's nuanced take on talent, ethics, and cancel culture. They single out the master class scene and the pacing shift in the second half. [Read](https://www.theringer.com/2022/10/06/movies/tar-movie-review-cate-blanchett-todd-field)
- **The Skinny**, Jamie Dunn (★★★★): The review highlights Blanchett’s tour-de-force turn as the ego-maniacal, bullying maestro whose downfall narrative gains edge from its focus on a queer woman. The elliptical structure and point-of-view add compelling ambiguity around the charismatic anti-hero. [Read](https://www.theskinny.co.uk/film/new-releases/tar)
- **The Playlist**, Jack King (B): The critic calls it a timely and timeless piece about the corrupting essence of power, elevated by a hydrogen bomb of a performance from Blanchett at her best since Carol. It notes some blemishes, including a grating Juilliard scene, but praises the nuanced character study. [Read](https://theplaylist.net/tar-review-cate-blanchett-is-at-her-best-since-carol-in-this-music-world-psychodrama-venice-20220901/)
- **/Film**, Marshall Shaffer (7.5/10): The critic sees it as a slow-burning tragic downfall tracking Tár's changes of fortune, with a Cate Blanchett masterclass at its core. It praises the magnetic performance and Kubrickian unease but notes occasional monotonous interludes and failure to say anything novel about cancel culture. [Read](https://www.slashfilm.com/990169/tar-review-a-star-is-torn-as-cate-blanchetts-conductor-falls-tragically-from-grace-venice/)
- **Paste**, Luke Hicks (8.0): The review commends the film's moody depth in depicting the slow unraveling of a powerful but flawed conductor, praising the subtle exploration of power, grooming, and cancel culture without simplistic judgments. It singles out the measured approach to revealing Tár's past misdeeds and the leaden impact of her fall. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/article/tar-review)
- **Eye for Film**, Anne-Katrin Titze (40/100, inferred): The critic describes the film as a heavy, precise and angry manual on how to hurt people, wrapped in sleek corporate clothing. It praises the bravura performance by Blanchett and the music but complains that Tár remains a construct that does not get under the skin. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/tar-2022-film-review-by-anne-katrin-titze)

## Details

- **Director:** Todd Field
- **Director:** Todd Field
- **Writer:** Todd Field
- **Cinematography:** Florian Hoffmeister
- **Editor:** Monika Willi
- **Music:** Hildur Guðnadóttir
- **Production design:** Marco Bittner Rosser
- **Costume design:** Bina Daigeler
- **Producer:** Scott Lambert, Alexandra Milchan, Todd Field
- **Cast:** Cate Blanchett as Lydia Tár; Nina Hoss as Sharon Goodnow; Noémie Merlant as Francesca Lentini; Sophie Kauer as Olga Metkina; Julian Glover as Andris Davis; Mark Strong as Eliot Kaplan; Sylvia Flote as Krista Taylor; Allan Corduner as Sebastian Brix
- **Runtime:** 2h 38m
- **Certificate (MPA):** R
- **Release (the US):** 28 October 2022
- **Genres:** Music, Drama
- **Also in:** [Best Picture winners](https://film.one/collections/oscar-best-picture.md) (Nominee, 2022); [BAFTA Best Film winners](https://film.one/collections/bafta-best-film.md) (Nominee, 2022); [Golden Globe Best Drama winners](https://film.one/collections/golden-globe-drama.md) (Nominee, 2022)
- **Budget:** $35 million
- **Box office:** $29 million
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Na6gA1RehsU

## Where to watch in the US

- Netflix: streaming
- Amazon Prime Video: rent $3.99, uhd
- Apple TV: rent $3.99, hd
- Amazon Prime Video: buy $14.99, uhd
- Apple TV: buy $14.99, hd

*Checked 2026-09-20.*

Also available in: AT, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, ES, FI, FR, GB, HU, IE, IN, IT, LT, MX, NL, NO, NZ, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## Awards

- Academy Awards 2023: Best Picture (nominated); Best Writing, Original Screenplay (nominated)
- Golden Globes 2023: Best Motion Picture – Drama (nominated)

## If you liked this

- *Amadeus* (1984), Fi1m 91: Genius, envy and a court that applauds; the noisier, warmer ancestor of this one. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/amadeus.md)
- *The Piano Teacher* (2001): Haneke’s conservatoire is colder still, and Huppert makes Tár look approachable.
- *In the Bedroom* (2001), Fi1m 84: Field’s first film: the same patience, the same refusal to tell you how to feel. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/in-the-bedroom.md)
- *Whiplash* (2014), Fi1m 84: Musical tyranny from the student’s side of the stand, at twice the tempo. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/whiplash.md)
- *The Assistant* (2019): A day in the life of the person who keeps her face still; Francesca’s story, elsewhere.

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© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/tar