Blanchett plays iconic German conductor Lydia Tár in her new film (Picture: Jeff Spicer/Getty Images for Universal)
Cate Blanchett has responded to criticism calling her new film Tár ‘offensive’.
The Oscar-winner was in London last night for the film’s premiere (wearing a dreamy metallic gown, no less) and shared her thoughts on negative reviews while in the capital.
After watching 53-year-old Blanchett’s portrayal of iconic German conductor Lydia Tár, American conductor Marin Alsop said she’d been ‘offended’.
Alsop, 66, elaborated: ‘I’m offended by Tár as a woman, as a conductor, as a lesbian.’
‘To have an opportunity to portray a woman in that role and to make her an abuser? For me that was heartbreaking,’ Alsop said.
She added to the Sunday Times: ‘I think all feminists should be bothered by that kind of depiction, because it’s not really about conductors, is it? It’s about women as leaders in our society.’
The Oscar-winner was in London last night for the film’s premiere (Picture: Karwai Tang/WireImage)
Blanchett was joined by her co-star Noemie Merlant on Wednesday, the film’s director Todd Field and the film’s other stars, Nina Hoss and Sophie Kauer (Credits: PA)
Blanchett said: ‘What [director] Todd [Field] and I wanted to do was to create a really lively conversation’ (Picture: Shutterstock)
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Speaking days after the interview with Alsop was published, Blanchett addressed the comments on BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme, saying: ‘I have the utmost respect for Marin Alsop. She’s a trailblazer of a musician and a conductor.’
The Nightmare Alley star went on: ‘And it’s a very provocative film and it will elicit a lot of very strong responses for people.
‘What [director] Todd [Field] and I wanted to do was to create a really lively conversation. So there’s no right or wrong responses to works of art.
‘It’s not a film about conducting, and I think that the circumstances of the character are entirely fictitious.
‘I looked at so many different conductors, but I also looked at novelists and visual artists and musicians of all stripes. It’s a very non-literal film.’
Marin Alsop said she’d been ‘offended’ by Tár (Picture: Nick Cunard/REX/Shutterstock)
Blanchett and Field beamed from ear to ear (Picture: PA)
Merlant, Field, Blanchett, Hoss and Kauer were all in high spirits while celebrating their Oscar-tipped film (Picture: David M. Benett/Max Cisotti/Dave Benett/WireImage)
Blanchett looked fabulous in a shiny lilac dress (Picture: Raw Image LTD/MEGA)
Alsop also claimed there are ‘many actual, documented men’ that could have been at the centre of the film and said the fact they weren’t was ‘antiwomen’.
In response, Blanchett thoughtfully noted: ‘She’s entitled to her opinion, absolutely. But it’s a meditation on power and power is genderless.’
She went on: ‘It is a meditation on power and the corrupting nature of power and I think that that doesn’t necessarily happen only in cultural circles […] she could just as well have been a master architect or the head of a major banking corporation.
‘I don’t think you could have talked about the corrupting nature of power in as nuanced away as Todd Field has done as a filmmaker if there was a male at the centre of it because we understand so absolutely what that looks like.
‘And I think that power is a corrupting force no matter what one’s gender is, I think it affects all of us.’
Tár’s official synopsis reads: ‘Renowned musician Lydia Tár is days away from recording the symphony that will elevate her career.
‘When all elements seem to conspire against her, Lydia’s adopted daughter Petra becomes an integral emotional support for her struggling mother.’
The film premiered in London on Wednesday and holy moly did Blanchett look fabulous in her shiny lilac gown.
The A-lister posed for snaps with director Field alongside her co-stars Nina Ross and Sophie Kauer at the event and even skipped the Golden Globes in favour of the UK premiere.
Good on ya, Blanchett!
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Thoughtfully put!
