“Tar” is the new film by Todd Fields starring Cate Blancett in a role that’s bound to get her an Oscar nomination.
Blancett is currently the frontrunner for the Oscar for Best Actress. So let’s find out some trivia and facts about the film.
- Tar is a 2022 psychological drama film
- It is directed, written and produced by Todd Field
- The film depicts the life and downfall of a renowned composer-conductor, Lydia Tár, portrayed by Cate Blanchett
- The supporting cast includes Noémie Merlant, Nina Hoss, Sophie Kauer, Julian Glover, Allan Corduner and Mark Strong
- Tár had its world premiere at the 79th Venice International Film Festival in September 2022
- There Blanchett won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress
- It had a limited theatrical release in the United States on October 7, 2022
- Before a wide release on October 28, 2022, by Focus Features
- The film received acclaim from critics
- Critics lauded Blanchett’s performance, and Field’s direction and screenplay
- It was announced in April 2021 that Cate Blanchett would star in and executive-produce the film, which would be written and directed by Todd Field
- In a statement accompanying the teaser trailer in August 2022, Field said that he wrote the script specifically for Blanchett, and that if she had said no, “the film would have never seen the light of day”
- In September 2021, Nina Hoss and Noémie Merlant joined the cast
- Hildur Guðnadóttir became the film’s composer
- Filming began in August 2021 in Berlin
- In an interview with The Guardian in October, Mark Strong revealed that he had finished filming scenes for the film
- In November, it was reported that Sophie Kauer, Julian Glover, Allan Corduner and Sylvia Flote had joined the cast
- Kauer is a British-German classical cellist who studied at the Royal Academy of Music
- All diegetic music was recorded live on-set, including Blanchett’s piano playing, Kauer’s cello, and the Dresden Philharmonic’s performances
- A concept album was released on October 21, 2022, featuring Guðnadóttir’s score with the London Contemporary Orchestra conducted by Robert Ames
- As well as a rehearsal of Gustav Mahler’s fifth symphony with Blanchett conducting the Dresden Philharmonic
- Cellist Sophie Kauer is also heard on the album playing Elgar’s Cello Concerto, backed by the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Natalie Murray Beale
- For the week ending November 5, 2022, the Tár concept album topped Billboard magazine’s Traditional Classical Albums at number one, ahead of albums by the actual Berlin Philharmonic
- John Mauceri served as consultant to Field’s script, providing Lydia Tár’s comments on classical music and musicians
- In the United States and Canada, the film made $158,620 from four theaters in its opening weekend, then $330,000 from 36 theaters in its second
- In its third weekend the film made $500,035 from 141 theaters
- Expanding to 1,087 theaters in its fourth weekend, the film made $1.02 million, finishing 10th
- In its second of wide release the film made $729,605
- Marking a drop of 30%
- On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 90% rating
- Based on 228 critics’ reviews
- With an average rating of 8.2/10
- The website’s consensus reads, “Led by the soaring melody of Cate Blanchett’s note-perfect performance, Tár riffs brilliantly on the discordant side of fame-fueled power”
- Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 91 out of 100
- Based on 47 critics, indicating “universal acclaim”
- Audiences polled by PostTrak gave the film a 72% overall positive score
- With 42% saying that they would definitely recommend it
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