T'ar

January 16, 2023, 2:06 PM · Marin Alsop's reaction is interesting. I haven't yet seen the flick, but my first (uninformed) response is, why not have a gay female central character who is hugely imperfect?

Back in the 60s, Sidney Poitier pointed up the novelty of having good black men in white homes. ("Guess Who's Coming to Dinner) But he had to be beyond sainthood at that time. Real life is more complicated.

Edited: January 16, 2023, 3:32 PM · There are two reasons that Alsop's reaction is, in my opinion, very valid.

The first is that Lydia Tár's fictional biography is too similar to Marin Alsop's, almost to the extent that viewers might make the assumption she is based on Alsop. It's not merely a matter of being a woman, there's a distinct possibility of affecting Alsop's reputation directly.

The second is that orchestra conducting has had one of the most persistent glass ceilings of any field. Women are better represented among national heads of government than among music directors of full-time orchestras. While society as a whole may be ready for a female antihero, presenting a female antihero in the world of orchestra conducting remains risky because women still have so little representation there.

January 17, 2023, 3:24 AM · Yes-- well, context is everything. And in 50 years, the film may have a very different look for that reason.

January 17, 2023, 1:51 PM · That's a rather pat dismissal, Gordon

January 17, 2023, 2:02 PM · I've seen the documentary on Marin Alsop. While the fictional T'ar has a similar resume, T'ar's interpersonal skills do not resemble Alsop in any way. T'ar would never fund a youth orchestra or have the emotional skills to deal with all the personalities of a top-tier orchestra.

Responding to Gordon, Yes I intellectualize. And I still like the psychodrama of "Black Swan".

I'm pretty sure that movie reviewers haven't had a chair in a community orchestra, let alone a top-tier international orchestra. So, the comparison to Alsop is conjecture based on the slimmest of links - T'ar has a resume similar to Alsop. Nothing more.

I don't see the connection between a real life woman conductor and an over dramatized idea of what a consummate professional conductor who happens to be a woman actually is like.

Hence I see it as another retelling of the formative stories of our species. Hubris, Nemesis, Sisyphus, presented to an audience that has probably never read the classic stories in English (forget classical Greek).

T'ar isn't a psychodrama. It's a warning to those who take themselves too seriously, that have lost empathy, who are sure that they will get the boulder to the top of the mountain, only to have the little misstep and suddenly all comes crashing down.

Edited: January 17, 2023, 3:23 PM · I think it's worth checking out. I had some trouble making out some of the dialogue due to the sound mix (there is a lot of dialogue). And the film credits, moved to the front of the film, are almost impossible to read.

Blanchett gives a good performance as usual. But I don't the story is strong enough to sustain interest over its 2 hour + run-time.

I don't think there are enough movies about women leaders or women in general. I'm looking forward to seeing the biopic of Indira Gandhi entitled "Emergency", which is scheduled for release sometime this year. Not sure if it will get worldwide release or not.

January 17, 2023, 3:43 PM · I think the issue in its simplest form is that there are very few women conductors and the vast majority of predators are straight men. So it's discomfiting at best to have a rare movie representing both a woman in power and classical music with a sociopath.
I saw the movie and I understand why Blanchett would be drawn to playing the character and that she was brilliant as always. Inside her progressive bubble it artistically defies expectation and lets her inhabit a fascinatingly flawed character.
And yet I also understand Alsop's position as a woman and a lesbian and the rare female conductor in a classical music world rarely seen in depth on the screen or popular culture. That the rare moment when the broader culture gazes in the direction of a professional orchestra, this is what they see.
No one is hopping up and down saying "Ban this movie!", just expressing their own perspectives, which are bound to be varied.
I was left admiring the performance, but not loving the movie.

Edited: January 17, 2023, 4:22 PM · I haven't seen it, but maybe it's worth a shot. My guess as to why someone might make an unsympathetic character (or perhaps a predator) a woman rather than a man in a context where there are few women, might be in order to more directly interrogate power by flipping the expected gender dynamic.

Putting a man in the role might make it easy to frame the story as interrogating men behaving badly, or masculinity or patriarchy, which is certainly a story that can be told, but to flip the script in this way might be framing the story in terms of questioning power more broadly, and the idea that all we need to do is break certain glass ceilings and then everything will be gravy. (my Marxist tendencies tell me that people don't necessarily align themselves in solidarity with their minority groups when they see their class position as being at risk). I think George's Nemesis/Hubris framing attests to something along the lines of what I'm saying.

I guess now I'll have to see the movie and see if my guess is anywhere close. I'm usually skeptical about classical music movies as being full of shallow signifiers.

January 17, 2023, 6:55 PM · https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/jan/15/natalie-murray-beale-conductor-prepared-cate-blanchett-for-tar?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

January 18, 2023, 3:02 PM · Someone created the first movie about a female conductor and then that role bears a strong resemblance -- even if only in outward ways -- to the clearly leading female conductor of our time. I can see where Alsop would be annoyed. "No no no, it's not about you" doesn't really work because the writer of the film would have to be living in a cave to not know about Alsop.

January 18, 2023, 5:28 PM · It was about sledding