The 79th Venice Film Festival officially kicked off the fall Oscar race on Thursday afternoon with Todd Field’s “Tár,” a drama starring Cate Blanchett as a famous composer embroiled in a public scandal. The film was showered with an ecstatic six-minute standing ovation as the crowds at the Sala Grande Theatre kept chanting “Bravo!“ even surprising Blanchett at times.
As Venice chief Alberto Barbera took her hand, Blanchett bowed — but the clapping went on. When the applause finally ended, a misty-eyed Blanchett turned to someone on her team and said: “Let’s get a drink.”
Surely, Blanchett’s work in “Tár” will be one of the most toasted performances of Oscar season. The rave reviews for the film all but guarantee the actor, who has two Academy Awards acting wins, will land her eight Oscar acting nomination this winter.
The buzz for “Tar” was strong even before it premiered. The crowds on the Lido gathered early for a glimpse of “Cate! Cate! Cate!” as they called her, holding up signs and even a movie poster from “Carol.”
The “Tár” supporting cast includes Nina Hoss, Noémie Merlant, Mark Strong, Julian Glover, Allan Corduner, Sophie Kauer and Sylvia Flote. Hildur Guðnadóttir, the Icelandic composer whose 2020 original score for “Joker” won the Oscar, worked on the film’s original compositions.
“Tár” marks a reemergence for Field, who made his directorial debut in 2001 with the critically acclaimed “In My Bedroom,” which earned five Oscar nominations, including best picture. His 2006 follow-up “Little Children” received similar awards attention, nabbing three Oscar nods. Both of his feature films have been nominated for adapted screenplay Oscars.
In his rave review of “Tár” out of Venice, Variety’s film critic Owen Gleiberman wrote, “The movie is breathtaking — in its drama, its high-crafted innovation, its vision. It’s a ruthless but intimate tale of art, lust, obsession, and power…The characters in it feel as real as life. (They’re acted to richly drawn perfection down to the smallest role.) You believe, at every moment, in the reality you’re seeing, and it’s extraordinary how that raises the stakes.”
Focus Features is behind “Tár” and will also be screening the movie at the upcoming New York Film Festival. Focus has several prospective Oscar contender this year, including James Gray’s “Armageddon Time.” Gray’s drama world premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and will also screen along with “Tár” at the New York Film Festival.
“Tar” is opening in theaters November 7 from Focus Features.