Sixteen Years and a Symphony Later: Todd Field Conducts Perfection in TÁR

 Bucharest, October 28th 2025.

It took Todd Field sixteen years to make another film 

— and frankly, if that’s how long it takes to produce something this good, 

we should all agree to wait patiently, quietly, 

perhaps in 4/4 time.

Watching TÁR feels like attending a concert where the conductor, the philosopher, and the psychoanalyst have formed an avant-garde trio, performing an aria on power, desire, and moral decay. 

It is, quite simply, a brilliant masterclass in cinema — elegant, merciless, and calibrated with Swiss-watch precision.

At the center of this disciplined chaos stands Cate Blanchett, 

delivering a performance so technically perfect 

it borders on the surgical. 

Every gesture, pause, and micro-tilt of her head seems measured with metronomic precision — as if her pulse itself had been rehearsed. 

She doesn’t play Lydia Tár; she dissects her, molecule by molecule, 

until what remains is a portrait of genius so lifelike 

it feels dangerous to touch. 

Watching Blanchett act 

is like watching someone conduct their own nervous system. It’s frighteningly good.

The supporting cast rises to the challenge. 

Noémie Merlant exudes the quiet brilliance of someone who already knows how the film will end 

but won’t spoil it, 

while Mark Strong projects that particular kind of male authority 

that thrives on being just slightly less competent than advertised — but exquisitely so.

Field’s decision to explore motherhood within a same-sex female couple feels both overdue and refreshingly un-didactic, 

as though he simply assumed audiences could handle nuance. 

(A bold assumption, in this century.)

The music, of course, is divine, especially in the scenes where Lydia commands the orchestra like a Nietzschean force of nature — half artist, half autocrat. 

One almost expects her to turn to the camera and conduct us, and we would obey without hesitation.

The locations are immaculate: Berlin rendered as a landscape of order and repression, every corridor an existential corridor. 

The compositions are so exact that Kubrick’s ghost may have given his spectral approval. 

This isn’t cinematography; it’s geometry with feelings.

And then comes the enigmatic young Russian musician 

— a mere narrative detail, perhaps, though in our current geopolitical climate, even her bow strokes seem to carry subtext. 

Coincidence? Probably. 

Symbolism? Definitely.

In the end, TÁR isn’t a film so much as an experience of intellectual submission. It doesn’t invite interpretation — it commands it. 

You leave the theater 

simultaneously humbled and exhilarated, 

wondering if you should applaud or apologize.

Sixteen years well spent, Mr. Field. 

If the next masterpiece requires another sixteen, 

we’ll wait 

— in silence, in reverence, and in perfect tempo.

Giulia Dobre

Bucharest

Here are some of the major awards and accolades received by the film TÁR (2022):

• At the National Society of Film Critics (NSFC), TÁR was named Best Picture of 2022. nationalsocietyoffilmcritics.com+1

• At the New York Film Critics Circle (NYFCC), TÁR won Best Film, and Cate Blanchett won Best Actress for her role in TÁR. TheWrap+2awardsradar.com+2

• At the London Film Critics’ Circle Film Awards, TÁR won Film of the Year, Director of the Year (for Todd Field) and Actress of the Year (for Cate Blanchett). euronews+1

• At the Golden Globes (2023), TÁR received one win: Cate Blanchett won Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama. Golden Globes

• At the Palm Springs International Film Awards, Cate Blanchett was honored with the Desert Palm Achievement Award – Actress for her performance in TÁR. TheWrap