Tár(2022)

Short pooper:
Everything collapses for Lydia (Cate Blanchett) as a result of the allegations coming to light; she is dismissed as Director of the Berlin Orchestra, the Kaplan Foundation severs ties with her, and her wife Sharon (Nina Hoss) separates from her and forbids her to contact their daughter Petra (Mila Bogojevic). At the strong advice of her managers, she is forced to return to her childhood home; later, she is reduced to conducting music for the video game “Monster Hunter” in the Philippines.

Longer version:
Renowned Berlin Orchestra conductor Lydia Tár -whose actual name, we come to find out later when everything goes sideways for her, is LINDA TARR; she just changed it for artistic purposes-, having had a history of abusive behavior towards pupils and fellow musicians, as well as little-known-of sexual entanglements with some women under her, gets infatuated with young hopeful cellist Olga (Sophie Kauer) and makes sure she gets a spot in the orchestra so she’ll be able to perform as part of the upcoming Edward Elgar’s Cello Concerto.

As these preparations happen, Lydia’s own relationships with wife Sharon and assistant Francesca (Noémi Merlant) strain; also, Krista (Sylvia Flote) -a former fellow orchestra performer and Lydia’s lover whom she gaslit and alienated-, commits suicide after sending several compromising e-mails to Francesca. Lydia tells Francesca to get rid of those e-mails to avoid trouble and retains a lawyer when she learns a lawsuit could come her way. She gets into an argument with her assistant conductor Sebastian (Allan Corduner), over having him replaced with Francesca, who nonetheless resigns abruptly.

One day, after working together on Olga’s solo, Lydia drives Olga home, hoping to have a liaison with her, but ends up injuring herself. She then tells everyone she was assaulted instead. This marks the beginning of a devastating domino effect for Lydia: a video that shows Lydia being abusive and discriminatory towards Juilliard peers goes viral, parallel to sexual allegations against her being plastered all over the press; she travels to New York for a deposition related to Krista’s lawsuit, only to learn that Krista had e-mailed damaging information about Lydia to other plaintiffs; while at New York, the promotion of her book is marred by protests; Eliot Kaplan (Mark Strong) disowns her and ends his ties with her; she is fired as conductor of the Berlin Orchestra; Sharon, angered with Lydia’s secrets and lies, forbids her from getting close to Petra; Lydia, growing increasingly unhinged -from previous struggles with nightmares and haunting sounds, as well as all the chaos around her-, attacks Eliot at a live recording of Mahler’s Fifth.

To deter the excess of negative attention, she is strongly advised by her management agency to go back to her childhood home in Staten Island. There, she feels the need to go back to basics, as if she lost her way, and watches a tape of Leonard Berstein’s “Young People’s Concerts”; then, her brother Tony (Lee R. Sellars) comes home and gets into a fight with her because “she has forgotten who she is and her roots.”

In the end, disgraced by all the controversy, Lydia moves to the Philippines for work. She is directed to one of those sexual massage parlors, looking for relief from jet lag, but, upon seeing the array of “masseuses” set for her to choose and spotting one who looks at her the way Olga did, she runs off, sickened. Her job ends up being conducting the orchestra for the video game “Monster Hunter,” which she does in front of a cosplaying audience.