Cate Blanchett says 'Tár' is her 'hardest film' to talk about. It could also win her a third Oscar.
NEW YORK – Cate Blanchett has seen the headlines.
"'Tár' takes on the devastating spectacle of 'cancellation,'" reads The Atlantic's review of her new film, while The Telegraph calls it the "the first cancel-culture thriller." Written and directed by Todd Field ("In the Bedroom"), the chilling drama traces the gradual downfall of a world-famous classical music conductor named Lydia Tár (Blanchett) amid sexual misconduct allegations. But the movie can't be boiled down to a single hot-button issue, the actress says.
"This has been the hardest film for me to reduce to some digestible sound bite," Blanchett says, sipping tea in a Midtown hotel suite with her co-star, German actress Nina Hoss. "It's an examination of the corruptive nature of power in all its forms, but it's also about so many other things," both psychological and existential.
"You sound wanky talking about that, but it's rare to see a film that has genuinely big questions. And it respects the audience enough to ask them."
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"Tár" (in theaters nationwide Friday) begins with Lydia at a career pinnacle: conducting a Berlin orchestra and teaching classes at Juilliard as she's set to release her memoir. But personally, the EGOT winner is spiraling: She's hit a creative roadblock trying to compose her next masterpiece, and her bullied young daughter (Mila Bogojevic) is struggling at school. Meanwhile, tensions simmer with her violinist wife, Sharon (Hoss), after Lydia's former student commits suicide – leaving behind a potentially damning paper trail about an improper relationship.
Despite the movie's timely premise, Lydia is a fictional character who "I'd been thinking about for quite a while," Field says. He wrote the character specifically for Blanchett, after meeting the actress years ago and discussing the possibility of collaborating.
"That meeting left an impression I couldn’t shake, as if someone had permanently scalded me with a branding iron," Field recalls. "A true genius. So, who better to play a genius?"
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Blanchett, 53, says she had never read anything like "Tár" before. She was compelled by its themes of legacy and the "tragic nature" of time, as Lydia faces turning 50 and wonders what's left – if anything – for her to still accomplish.
"I had a seismic response to it that I still don't quite understand," Blanchett says. "It spoke to a lot of things I had been thinking about for a long time: not only in relation to power structures, but also for me personally, the creative process. When you get to a certain point in your career and you've done a few things – some of them have worked, some of them haven't – at what point do you risk throwing it all away? Is that the bravest thing you could possibly do?"
She was also drawn to how the movie "doesn't allow the audience to sit in easy judgment of the characters." Lydia brutally castigates students whose tastes she deems too "woke." She has no qualms about promoting a pretty young cellist (Sophie Kauer) over a more experienced one, or hacking her assistant's (Noémie Merlant) laptop in an effort to find incriminating emails.
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"It's very rare that women get portrayed like that," Hoss says. "If female characters are powerful, or they're slightly more complicated than normal, you usually get an explanation why that happened: a certain motivation or a trauma from childhood. That does not necessarily happen if you're male."
The character's prickly demeanor hasn't tempered critics' enthusiasm for the film, which has 98% positive reviews on aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes. Blanchett is widely expected to earn her eighth Oscar nomination for her towering turn, after two wins, for best actress (2013's "Blue Jasmine") and best supporting actress (2004's "The Aviator").
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"Myself and many others think it’s the best performance of a long career full of Oscars and stellar roles," says Erik Anderson, founder of Oscar prediction site AwardsWatch. "Her utter dominance in 'Tár' – she’s in every single scene – is overwhelming compared to any other contender."
Last month, Blanchett received the Volpi Cup for best actress at Venice Film Festival for "Tár." Her 7-year-old daughter, Edith, and mother, June, were both on hand to watch her accept the prize.
"It was really nice for my mom to be there," Blanchett says. "(The Volpi Cup) is such an honor, of course, but everyone seems to talk about performances as if they exist without an ensemble. People go and see 'Hamlet,' but they don't really feel the play unless there's an incredible Gertrude."
"That's very kind," Hoss says. "But take the compliment. Take the compliment!"
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Together, the actresses embarked on a "crash course in absolutely everything to do with classical music," Blanchett says.
Hoss trained in violin, while Blanchett learned how to conduct and play piano. She also learned German, although Hoss insists that she didn't give her co-star any pointers on her native language.
"I didn't need to," Hoss says, glancing at Blanchett with a grin. "She was perfect."
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Cate Blanchett's ‘Tár' could win her third Oscar for 'seismic' role
