The Best Lydia Tár Quotes

Lydia: It is always the question that involves the listener, it's never the answer.

- Is that a new bag?
- Oh, it's just a gift from eliot.
- You want it?
- No.
- Suits you.
Lydia: Let's...
- Slow this down to 60 beats a minute.

Lydia: She wasn't one of us. We have to forget her.

- Petra!
- Come here, darling!
Petra: It was good.
- Was it?
Petra: Yeah.
- You wanna go to the park?
Lydia: Don't do this.
- Please, don't do this.
- Please don't.

Lydia: I'm Petra's father.

Lydia: Don't be so eager to be offended. The narcissism of small differences leads to the most boring kind of conformity.

[Annoyed by her neighbors' complaint]
Lydia: [singing loudly with the accordion] Apartment for sale / Apartment for sale / Your mother's buried deep / And now you're gonna keep / Her apartment for sale / Your sister's in jail / You put your sister in jail / You're all going to hell / Your apartment's for sale!

Lydia: Don't call on me the next time you're trying to drag yourself to the Podium.

Lydia: Misogamy! It's the hatred of marriage.

Max: You're a fucking bitch.
Lydia: And you are a robot.

Lydia: [subtitles] Hope dies last.

Lydia: [singing Drake's Hotline Bling in the bathroom using a hairbrush as a microphone with her wife and daughter] You used to call me on my cell phone / Late night when you need my love / Call me on my cell phone / Late night when you need my love / And I know when that hotline bling / That can only mean one thing / I know when that hotline bling / That can only mean one thing

Lydia: It's my score! You fucking, little nothing!

Lydia: Unfortunately, the architect of your soul appears to be social media.

Lydia: We fought, he ran, what's to tell?

Lydia: Is there something wrong with the water?
Cirio: No. There are crocodiles.
Lydia: Oh. I didn't think they'd be this far inland.
Cirio: They escaped from Marlon Brando movie.
Lydia: Wow. That was a long time ago.
Cirio: They survive.

Lydia: For a start, this happened in a no-tech zone.

[both] "All the birds of the air fell a-sighing and a-sobbing when they heard the bell toll for poor cock Robin!"
Lydia: It's gonna be okay.
- All right. Okay, which one is she?
- The red one.
- Bye.
- Goodbye.

- Why are you lurking, hmm?
- Tell me and I'll help.
Lydia: Sharon?
- Mmm?
- Uh, I'm taking Petra to school.
- Oh, okay.
Lydia: Come on.
Sharon: Tschtiss.

Lydia: [about The Rite of Spring] It's the eleven pistol shots - it's a prime number - that strike you as both victim and perpetrator. You know, it's not until I conducted it that I became convinced we're all capable of murder.

Lydia: There's no glory for a robot, Eliot. Do your own thing!

- One more question.
[Musician] Gos.
Lydia: And this really is just for you, gosia.
- I mean... [sighs]
- As a practical matter,
- I mean, this would normally fall to you.
- But given how much is gonna be asked of you with the mahler,
- I wondered if you'd be at all bothered if we were to hold auditions?

Francesca's: [German] Lady, you're trespassing...
Lydia: [Strides out defiantly]

Lydia: All the birds of the air fell to a-sobbing WHEN THEY HEARD THE BELL TOLL FOR POOR COCK-ROBIN!

Lydia: If you tell another adult about this conversation, they will not believe you. Because I am an adult.

- Do you live here?
- Not normally, no.
- Uh, make yourself at home.
- I'm just gonna put something on.
- Do you have a towel?
Lydia: Yes.
- Thank you.
- I got caught in the rain.

- A lot of pressure. Okay.
Lydia: So familiar to everyone here.
- It really doesn't help you to know this piece so well. Okay.
- Same place.

SMS: Fuck me if she uses allegory.
Lydia: Just like birdsong!

Lydia: [Makes the anagram "At risk" out of Krista's name]

Lydia: Or like Lucy listening to Schroeder.

- I can see that.
- Come on.
- They're all waiting for you.
Petra: I'm going to give everyone a pencil.
Lydia: All of them?
- They can't all conduct, honey.
- It's not a... [chuckles]
- It's not a democracy.

Lydia: You want to dance the mask, you must service the composer. You gotta sublimate yourself, your ego, and, yes, your identity. You must, in fact, stand in front of the public and God and obliterate yourself.

Lydia: She was fixated on me. She sent me weird gifts, she vandalized my Wikipedia page...

Lydia: Time is the thing.

Olga: You have a child?
Lydia: Yes.
Olga: I will never do that!
Lydia: Pets are best for some people.

Lydia: [Email] I WARN YOU, TO PROTECT YOUR ORCHESTRA...

Lydia: 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, sexuality, and so on, then so can yours.

- Would you like me to take notes?
- No, thank you, Sebastian.
- That won't be necessary.
- Do we all have our rating sheets?
- We narrowed it down to three.
- Mm-hmm.
Lydia: So unless anyone has other business to discuss, let's bring in number one.

Andris: How's the writing going?
Lydia: Ah, I never know how to answer that question. Makes it sound like a physical act. Like, "how's the shitting going?"
Andris: [laughs] Okay. How's the thinking going?

Lydia: If Bach's talent can be reduced to his gender, birth country, religion, sexuality, and so on, then so can yours. 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. 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?

Lydia: I will get you.

Lydia: Hello. Hi.
- They're all in the chamber hall?
- Yes.

- Sharon?
- Hello.
Lydia: Petra.

- I mean, it is gonna have to be...
- It's gonna have to be a sprint. Um...
- How about Monday?
- All right.
Lydia: Okay, good.
- Knut, would you assemble a quorum for Monday?

- And though I wish
- I could claim the idea was mine, it really did spring from the heart of Sharon goodnow.
- Sharon is your partner.
- You have a child together.
- And she's also the concert master for Berlin.
- Does that ever complicate things for you?
Lydia: Yes, that's right.
- Your work getting into your home or the other way...

Lydia: [after explaining how Bernstein played Mahler's Adagietto in a 12-minute version emphasizing tragedy] We are dealing with time. And this piece was not born into aching tragedy. It was born into young love.
Adam: And so you chose...
Lydia: Love.
Adam: Right, but precisely how long?
Lydia: Well, seven minutes!

Whitney: Do you ever find yourself overwhelmed when you're up there on the podium?
Lydia: Yes, it does happen. There's an expectation-reward cycle with some works, and sparks in them that I find so incredible that when I'm conducting... it's not that I'm rushing, exactly, but I just can't wait to get to that spot. And yeah, it does it, it does it every time.