Conductor named in Cate Blanchett's 'Tár' blasts film as 'anti-woman': 'I was offended'

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A conductor who was referenced in the Golden Globe-nominated film "Tár," starring Cate Blanchett, is slamming the film as "anti-woman." 

"I first read about it in late August, and I was shocked that that was the first I was hearing of it," Marin Alsop said of the film in an interview with the U.K.’s Sunday Times newspaper. "So many superficial aspects of ‘Tár’ seemed to align with my own personal life. But once I saw it I was no longer concerned, I was offended: I was offended as a woman, I was offended as a conductor, I was offended as a lesbian."

Film critics have noted several parallels between the fictional Lydia Tár and Alsop, the real life music director laureate of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. But Alsop did not seem to appreciate the comparison, considering the immoral behavior of Tár. The character, a world renowned conductor, is very successful and an impressive pioneer in the music industry, but she often uses her power to prey on young women. Some movie critics even described her as a female Harvey Weinstein.

Blanchett at the 2014 Academy Awards. (Reuters)

"To have an opportunity to portray a woman in that role and to make her an abuser — for me that was heartbreaking," Alsop said. "I think all women and all feminists should be bothered by that kind of depiction because it’s not really about women conductors, is it? It’s about women as leaders in our society. People ask, ‘Can we trust them? Can they function in that role?’ It’s the same questions whether it’s about a CEO or an NBA coach or the head of a police department."

Tár mentions Alsop by name in the opening sequence of the film.

"As to the question of gender bias, I have nothing to complain about," Tár says while speaking with real-life journalist Adam Gopnik. "Nor, for that matter, should Nathalie Stutzmann, Laurence Equilbey, Marin Alsop, or JoAnn Falletta. There were so many incredible women who came before us, women who did the real lifting."

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Alsop wondered why the film did not cast a man in the lead role.

"There are so many men — actual, documented men — this film could have been based on but, instead, it puts a woman in the role but gives her all the attributes of those men," she said. "That feels antiwoman. To assume that women will either behave identically to men or become hysterical, crazy, insane is to perpetuate something we’ve already seen on film so many times before."

Ricky Gervais provided his two cents on whether or not he would host the Golden Globes again. (Paul Drinkwater/NBCUniversal Media, LLC via Getty Images)

Tár writer-director Todd Field addressed whether the film is a "microcosm of larger issues" in a conversation with IndieWire in October.

"The classical music world is a rich and interesting one for me, but in terms of the story, it’s a backdrop," Field said. "It could’ve been any kind of pyramid scheme, any kind of power structure. It could’ve been a multinational corporation or an architectural firm. Pick your poison."

"In all our conversations, we talked about this examination of power — how we look at power and how we decide the way we look at it," he added. "If you really want to talk about power and the long reach of history — the abuse and complicity of power, how it corrupts, all these clichés we’ve grown up with — you have to reckon with the idea that there is no black or white. To find the truth of something requires a little more rigor."

A scene from Blanchett's new movie went viral last month and was praised as being "anti-woke." The short clip showcased Tár lecturing a progressive student for saying he doesn't appreciate the work of famous conductors like Sebastian Bach because, he says, "White, male, cis composers, just not my thing."

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Tár challenges the student, Max, and asks him to think about how those kinds of ideals could impact his own career.   

"But you see, the problem with enrolling yourself as an ultrasonic epistemic dissident is that if Bach's talent can be reduced to his gender, birth country, religion, and so on, then so can yours," she said, pacing and addressing the entire class. 

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Goodwill Ambassador Cate Blanchett speaks during a Security Council meeting on the situation in Myanmar, Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018 at United Nations headquarters. (AP)

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"Now some day, Max, when you go out into the world, and you guest conduct for a major or minor orchestra, you may notice that the players have more than light bulbs and music on their stands," Tár continued. "They will also have been handed rating sheets, the purpose of which is to rate you. Now, what kind of criteria would you hope that they use to do this? Your score reading and stick technique, or something else?"

Blanchett is considered by many critics to be a front-runner for Best Actress ahead of Tuesday's Golden Globes.