VENICE, Italy — When we meet the imperious, exacting maestro played with thrilling command by Cate Blanchett in Todd Field’s film “Tar,” Lydia Tar has climbed every mountain to conquer her own personal summit of fame.
Principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, author (“Tar on Tar”) and celebrated and feared master class instructor with the Juilliard School, she’s introduced as she waits in the wings, ready to take the stage for a New Yorker Festival interview conducted by Adam Gopnik.
On stage, her interviewer notes that she is a rare EGOT figure in contemporary international orchestral circles, having won an Emmy, a Grammy (she’s prepping for a massive Mahler project to be recorded by Deutsche Grammophon), an Oscar and a Tony Award. In other words: At some point in the fictional life of this fictional creation, she might have commanded a lion’s share of red carpets at the Venice Film Festival.
