'Tar' is a fancy way of saying something ugly
Focus
Both of these things can be (and are) true at the same time:
People deserve to be held accountable for their actions, especially when said actions harm others
People should not be thoughtlessly dismissed as a result of accusations that are without merit
“Tar,” however, is not a complicated examination of cancel culture in 2022. Sheesh, the title alone—not to mention the line of dialogue specifically stating that being accused of something now is synonymous with guilt—gives away writer/director Todd Field’s (“Little Children,” “In the Bedroom”) perspective: that a claim made against someone sticks to them regardless of its truth.
The problem here isn’t that this viewpoint is inaccurate but that “Tar,” a two-and-a-half-hour exploration of acclaimed conductor Lydia Tar’s (Cate Blanchett) progressive reckoning with what she may or may not have done, seeks only to obscure the truth and complain about hypotheticals and worst-case-scenarios for the powerful—while ignoring the guilty and, you know, the victims. No matter how convincing Blanchett is in the role (though there isn’t enough clarity to turn consistency into greatness), and no matter how impressively Field builds the tension of the film’s music and narrative like a held breath, there is always the sense of being callous and coy with something that shouldn’t be constructed as a mystery. And the narrative’s ultimate destination—or lack thereof—reveals a total unwillingness to do anything other than prioritize intent over result, suggest victim-blaming misinterpretation and say “Who ever knows anything for sure, so let’s not punish the artists, K?”
There absolutely can be an exploration of a delicate time in public discourse and the very difficult effort to, as a society, somehow, broadly establish judgment on a well-known figure’s conduct when anything is unknown. But let’s not ignore the realities of the issue; many supposedly canceled people, such as Louis C.K., hardly disappear permanently. And it’s weird and cowardly for “Tar” to blur the details of its supposed character study, creating many suggestions of inappropriate behavior yet still aiming to land on the side of the issue that refuses to believe accusers. Meanwhile, Field labors to demonstrate how Tar is a protective parent and important cultural figure (she has an EGOT) and even a helpful neighbor, and surely undeserving of whatever consequence comes her way—as if specific actions are punished based on other details of a person’s life and not the thing they did. When a person takes issue with an artist’s character outside their work, “Tar” suggests that it’s pathetic and unintentionally funny to care about the identity of someone who creates things this way. And the film isn’t tapping into its subject’s denial; it’s too busy muting its impact.
This doesn’t contribute to the conversation about how we do or don’t value art and people and truth. “Tar” is far from a thoughtful portrait of corrupted power or a world in which it could be easy, in theory, to misrepresent someone’s words or behavior and unjustly alter their life. It’s just a very well made tantrum, placing high art and its own disinterest to even address moral and ethical progress above the responsibility of all, including the influential and adored, to do no harm. (The ending is in bad taste in a different way as well, and unable to be defended with a ranking of the world’s orchestras.) If the question is, “But isn’t it worth the great work they put out into the world?” it really doesn’t seem that hard, no matter how much you love a particular band/director/whatever, to bring empathy to the people who are hurt and say, “Uh, no, it’s not. Clearly.”
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