An absolute masterwork—not only thanks to the memes—director Todd Field’s Tár, starring Cate Blanchett as the titular conductor, is one of the year’s most beguiling and well-crafted films. It’s Field’s first since his 2006 project Little Children, and the wait was well worth the 16-year gap. Best Actress nominee Blanchett is mesmerizing as the genius Leonard Bernstein mentee Lydia Tár, who’s preparing to lead the Berlin Philharmonic as a slow rot of scandal pursues her into even her most sacred rehearsal spaces.
Field’s long, drawn-out shots grow increasingly quick as Tár’s carefully constructed life sifts through her fingers, and yet the audience is never altogether certain of the details surrounding the fallout. Tár is an unsettling pleasure, the kind of film you can watch again and again and discover new nuances. It’s also all but guaranteed to snap up plenty of awards this season—including, possibly, Best Picture—as Blanchett is trotted out in contention for a Best Actress Oscar.
To catch up on the latest with Lydia, you have a few options for how to watch Tár online. They include:
Because Tár is produced by Focus Features—which, in turn, is owned by NBCUniversal—the film is now streaming on Peacock, which NBCUniversal owns. You can subscribe to Peacock for $4.99 a month (or $9.99 a month if you don’t want ads). Trust us: A viewing (or a second or a third!) of Tár is worth the fee.
Associate Editor
Lauren Puckett-Pope is an associate editor at ELLE, where she covers film, TV, books and fashion.