CATE BLANCHETT: SELECTIVE RETROSPECTIVE

The Academy Award-winning actress Cate Blanchett has forged an impressive, and singular, career on stage and screen. She has worked with some of the world’s foremost directors, consistently crafting impeccable performances in critically acclaimed films, and not skimping on making her presence felt in box office blockbusters. Born in Melbourne, she began her career on the Sydney stage and is a former artistic director of the Sydney Theatre Company. Her breakthrough roles came in 1997’s ‘Oscar and Lucinda’ (Gillian Armstrong) playing opposite Ralph Fiennes, and her imperious turn as the young queen in Shekhar Kapur’s ‘Elizabeth’ (1998).

Her Oscar wins came for embodying Katharine Hepburn in ‘The Aviator’ (Martin Scorsese, 2004) and a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown in ‘Blue Jasmine’ (Woody Allen, 2013). She has been nominated by the Academy a further six times. In addition, she has four Baftas and four Golden Globes. Her most notable small-screen role came as the unscrupulous anti-feminist activist Phylllis Schlafly in the FX miniseries ‘Mrs America’.

Having triumphed in her homeland, in Hollywood and in European art cinema, as well as on Broadway and the London stage, Blanchett now lives in Sussex. She continues to work around the world, creating some of the screen’s most compelling and idiosyncratic screen characters. Her recent Oscar-nominated performance as the malignant conductor at the heart of Todd Field’s ‘Tár’ proves that she is one of the bravest actresses working in cinema today, unafraid to push boundaries and play women who are hard to like but impossible to ignore. – Pamela

Elizabeth

Hutchinson

Cate Blanchett won her second Oscar for her portrayal of the ‘Virgin Queen’ in Shekhar Kapur’s ravishing study of Elizabeth I’s ascension to the throne and her early reign. Essentially the story of Elizabeth’s transformation from sensual young hothead to hard-hearted queen, evolving sub plots also explore issues of femininity, power and high politics. The film begins with the brutalised and cynical ‘Bloody Mary’ (Kathy Burke) persecuting Protestants, while her half-sister Elizabeth is a happy-go-lucky young woman enjoying the first flushes of love with the Earl of Leicester (Joseph Fiennes). Fearing Elizabeth’s Protestant leanings, Mary imprisons her and plots to have her killed. On her deathbed, Mary has a change of heart and Elizabeth ascends to the throne. Thrust into an edgy world of political and religious flux she struggles to protect her power, life and independence as the court boils with intrigue and conspiracy. Despite flashing eyes and sumptuous court finery, this intelligent period drama skilfully avoids the swamp of nostalgic fantasy. Kapur draws the best from an outstanding cast (including Geoffrey Rush, Richard Attenborough and Christopher Eccleston) and delivers both an atmospheric romance and a mature exploration of a big theme – the dark duplicity, betrayal and grubby ambition that run through Britain’s bloodthirsty history. UK 1998 SHEKHAR KAPUR 124M

Fri 18 Aug 10:30 – Auditorium

The Aviator

Fast-paced biopic documenting the life of one of the most colourful Americans of the 20th century, Howard Hughes (Leonardo DiCaprio), and his relationship with Katharine Hepburn (Cate Blanchett).

Hughes was a risk-taker who spent several fortunes before eventually founding TWA as a rival to Pan Am, the airline owned by his great rival, Juan Trippe (Alec Baldwin). When Trippe’s politico Senator Ralph Owen Brewster accuses Hughes of being a war profiteer, it’s Hughes who gains the upper hand. Hughes also had many women in his life, including Hepburn, with whom he had a long relationship. Blanchett’s interpretation seems spot on, and anyone familiar with the late actress’s mannerisms will appreciate the hard work that clearly went into the re-creation. Scorsese has crafted a riproaringly gorgeous-looking, beautifully acted biographical epic. The star cast also includes Kate Beckinsale as Ava Gardner and Jude Law as Errol Flynn.

USA/GERMANY 2004 MARTIN SCORSESE 170M

The Talented Mr Ripley

Patricia Highsmith’s first Ripley novel shows Ripley in the process of inventing himself and finding his life’s work. A poor man who wanted to be rich.

A 1950s Manhattan lavatory attendant, Tom Ripley (Matt Damon), borrows a Princeton jacket to play piano at a garden party. When the wealthy father of a recent Princeton graduate chats Tom up, the latter pretends to know the son and is soon offered $1,000 to go to Italy to convince Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Law) to return home. In Italy, Tom attaches himself to Dickie and Marge (Gwyneth Paltrow), Dickie’s cultured fiancée, pretending to love jazz and harbouring homoerotic hopes as he soaks in luxury. Anthony Minghella creates a beautiful, intricate and suspenseful story that enhances the thriller dimensions of Highsmith’s novel into a far more significant, emotionally tangled experience. When Tom’s elaborately constructed fantasy catches up with him, the result is just as heartbreaking for the viewer as it is for the character. The cast also includes Cate Blanchett as Meredith, a character not in the original novel. Part of our Festival strand ‘Loving Highsmith’ – see pg67. USA 1999 ANTHONY MINGHELLA 137M

CAROL

An adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s seminal novel we follow two women from very different backgrounds who find themselves in an unexpected love affair in 1950s New York.

Wed 23 Aug 11:00 – Auditorium

For full details see Loving Highsmith strand on pg67.

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