Movie “TÁR”

August 15, 2023

Finally I watched this movie. It has been on my list. As you know I live in the music world too, and unfortunately I have seen “Lydia Tár” occasionally in our circuit. Super talented people often have all kinds of problems which could be hidden until the bubbles reach the boiling point. Then the problem can’t go back.. To me, this movie is a bit scary because it is so true. It is fiction, but I feel more like fact than fiction.

It is a masterful movie portraying a complicated (woman) conductor (I use the word “woman”, but it happens to male musicians too) living in the music industry. The movie begins with Lydia Tár at the height of her career, as she’s preparing both her new book promotion and long prepared live performance of Mahler’s Fifth Symphony. Tár is a conductor for a major German orchestra. From this peak her life begins to go downhill. And what an ending! This metaphor is so obvious to musicians, but I needed to explain to non- musician friends how insulting and awful it is to conduct a cosplay show in a developing country where “massage” means prostitution. The movie “TÁR”portrays human psychology and the music industry so powerfully.