First off — I really like Tár! I still find myself thinking back to it every so often; it’s a strong contender for my favourite film of 2023 so far. (I live in a part of the world where films are often released a little later than in the US.)

That being said… I feel somewhat conflicted about how the film centres predatory lesbian relationships, and would be interested to hear others’ thoughts. Do you think there’s a specific reason that Todd Field chose to write the character of Tár as a woman who has exploitative relationships with other women?

I think that it’s relatively unusual for general-interest movies to focus on positive queer relationships — so how do the queer women out there feel about this one? I’m a gay guy and expect it’d leave a bad taste in my mouth if Tár it followed a male version of the title character and his exploitative relationships with men.

In a similar vein, imagine the same film, but with the Tár character being male. Would the same relationship dynamics come across as trite (with #MeToo firmly embedded in our recent collective memory)? And if so, what’s to make a queer version of that same dynamic substantively different?

I think I remember reading an analysis (not mine; alas!) that described the movie as being “in dialogue with the viewer” about the relationship between the personal conduct of an auteur, the art that they present themselves as being responsible for, and the art that they create in collaboration with others. (That characterisation strikes directly at what makes the movie engaging for me!) Then, are the queer relationships for anything more than just adding a provocative element to that “dialogue”?