This is a movie in the Stanley Kubrick tradition in that it is challenging, works on different levels and reveals new insights on each viewing. I think this will be a classic some day. But it is not easy viewing.
Here are some random thoughts I've had after two viewings...
The opening text exchange between Krista and Francesca: On first viewing I assumed it was Krista who was still in love with Tar. But after studying it closely I think it is actually FRANCESCA who is still in love with Tar. That then explains Francesca's odd behavior around Tar and the doodles she makes such as Tar/Rat. That also gives her character much more motivation to destroy Tar (which she does.) Krista, who I originally thought committed suicide due to her rejected love for Tar actually killed herself because her career was sabotaged.
I was on the fringes of the classical music world in NYC socially. I found Blanchette's portrayal of such an accomplished conductor completely unconvincing. The way she talked did not sound to me like someone who really lives and breathes classical music. So I thought her acting from that perspective was pretty bad. But maybe it was deliberate? Tar is such a phony. Was she even really friends with Lenny or did she just know him on videotape? I suspect that some of her dialogue might even be lifted from some of Bernstein's television shows. Was she, dare I say it, a beneficiary of what we call "equity" today? Did she get to where she was partly because she was a woman? Also, during the early "Inside the Actor's Studio" style interview she is treated more like a celebrity than an artist.
The movie opens with closing credits and some beautiful music I believe that Tar had recorded during her stint in Peru. The fact that she spent those years in Peru was the one truly likeable/redeeming aspect of her character. So while the film is kind of like a classical tragedy where an exalted human being crashes to earth via their own behavior, the truth is that THIS IS A MOVIE WITH A VERY HAPPY ENDING. The person Tar becomes at the end of the movie is the person she was before all the BS of success turned her into a monster. Her downfall has saved her. She is a very likeable person at the end...one who is not too proud to take on such a "demeaning" job and who treats it with the same enthusiasm she gave to Mahler. I think that those who think the ending is sad or a punishment are missing the point. Which brings us back to the closing credits being at the start. If you think of the movie playing backward from the end to the beginning, it is the story of a good human being being turned into an absolute monster. So the movie is a tragedy when played backward which is why the ending credits are at the start. But played forward the movie is actually not a tragedy. It is a story of redemption.
I have the feeling I will be analyzing this movie for the remainder of my life!
Here are some random thoughts I've had after two viewings...
The opening text exchange between Krista and Francesca: On first viewing I assumed it was Krista who was still in love with Tar. But after studying it closely I think it is actually FRANCESCA who is still in love with Tar. That then explains Francesca's odd behavior around Tar and the doodles she makes such as Tar/Rat. That also gives her character much more motivation to destroy Tar (which she does.) Krista, who I originally thought committed suicide due to her rejected love for Tar actually killed herself because her career was sabotaged.
I was on the fringes of the classical music world in NYC socially. I found Blanchette's portrayal of such an accomplished conductor completely unconvincing. The way she talked did not sound to me like someone who really lives and breathes classical music. So I thought her acting from that perspective was pretty bad. But maybe it was deliberate? Tar is such a phony. Was she even really friends with Lenny or did she just know him on videotape? I suspect that some of her dialogue might even be lifted from some of Bernstein's television shows. Was she, dare I say it, a beneficiary of what we call "equity" today? Did she get to where she was partly because she was a woman? Also, during the early "Inside the Actor's Studio" style interview she is treated more like a celebrity than an artist.
The movie opens with closing credits and some beautiful music I believe that Tar had recorded during her stint in Peru. The fact that she spent those years in Peru was the one truly likeable/redeeming aspect of her character. So while the film is kind of like a classical tragedy where an exalted human being crashes to earth via their own behavior, the truth is that THIS IS A MOVIE WITH A VERY HAPPY ENDING. The person Tar becomes at the end of the movie is the person she was before all the BS of success turned her into a monster. Her downfall has saved her. She is a very likeable person at the end...one who is not too proud to take on such a "demeaning" job and who treats it with the same enthusiasm she gave to Mahler. I think that those who think the ending is sad or a punishment are missing the point. Which brings us back to the closing credits being at the start. If you think of the movie playing backward from the end to the beginning, it is the story of a good human being being turned into an absolute monster. So the movie is a tragedy when played backward which is why the ending credits are at the start. But played forward the movie is actually not a tragedy. It is a story of redemption.
I have the feeling I will be analyzing this movie for the remainder of my life!