Cate Blanchett has defended her film ‘Tar’ following heavy criticism from renowned conductor Marin Alsop.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4 on Thursday, the actor said he admired Alsop, a “musician trailblazer”, but said her own take on the film deviated from that of the conductor. It was overwhelmingly negative.
Alsop told The Sunday Times earlier this week that “Tar,” a story about a world-famous conductor facing sexual abuse allegations against a female victim, is “anti-woman.”
“I was offended. I was offended as a woman, as a conductor, as a lesbian,” Alsop told the UK outlet, adding that she was particularly offended by the unfavorable portrayal of female leadership. rice field.
“It was heartbreaking for me to play a woman in that role and have the opportunity to make her an abuser,” she said.
Alsop is mentioned by name in the film and, as noted by The Sunday Times, shares some similarities with Blanchett’s character in terms of her professional background and lesbian identity.
“So many superficial aspects of Tar seemed to match my own private life,” she said.
Blanchett, however, responded to Alsop by providing her own interpretation of the film.
“It’s a meditation on power, and power is genderless,” the actor said.
Blanchett hoped to have lively dialogue with “Tar” director Todd Field, and said the circumstances surrounding her character were “completely fictional”.
“I saw so many different conductors, but I also saw novelists, visual artists, musicians of all kinds,” Blanchett said. “This is a very nonliteral film.”
The actor said the man in her role fails to convey the “corrupting nature” of power “in a subtle way.”
“I think power is a corrupting force, regardless of gender. I think it affects us all,” she said.
The acclaimed film earned Blanchett a Golden Globe for her role and is expected to do well at the Academy Awards in March.
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