The actor’s role as an abusive maestro is her most powerful yet. The Oscar favourite discusses fame, missing Australia and the strong reactions Tár has provoked
received a sustained standing ovation and Blanchett won the best actress prize, the first of several awards she has been given for her performance. Since then, the film has been hailed by many as a masterpiece, but has also been trailed by controversy, dividing opinion because of the culturally contested topics it touches on, including cancel culture and identity politics.
I am speaking to Cate Blanchett via a video call to Los Angeles just two days after her portrayal of Lydia Tár won her the best actress award at the Golden Globes. It is the third time she has triumphed in that category. A few weeks after we speak, she will receive her eighth Academy Award nomination and, should she win – she is currently favourite – will become only the third actress in history to have been awarded three or more Oscars.
In preparation for the role, Field tells me, “Cate did something I have never seen any other actor do: she memorised the entire script – her lines, everyone else’s lines, even the script references. She did a deep dive.” Blanchett also learned German, took piano lessons, studied online masterclasses by the great Soviet conductor Ilya Mussin, and sought out as many performances of Mahler’s Fifth as she could.
Blanchett’s immersion in the role is total, and the sheer force of her presence drives the narrative as it moves from a realist, almost documentary style to something altogether stranger as Tár’s once-assured sense of herself unravels. In a celebrated career, Blanchett has tackled many demanding parts, from the title role in her breakout film,, Todd Haynes’s lush tale of forbidden love.
When I mention the interview to Blanchett, she responds calmly. “For me, what is wonderful about the film, and sophisticated about the narrative, is that it examines power in a way that is genderless. Nothing is drawn. It’s not just a film about a female conductor who falls from grace, it’s about something much less political than that, even though the position she finds herself in is incredibly political. I think it’s a very complex film and one that will stand the test of time.
, which is an epic, stream-of-consciousness narrative comprised of a single sentence. “In a way, it’s a bit like,” she says, “because the audience thinks I have got to understand every single sentence this person is saying. Whereas for me the book, like the film, makes rhythmic sense as much as being deeply painful and funny and unsettling.”
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