Cate Blanchett reflects on the value of awards and her fascination with complicated women

By Simone Lee

<em>Photo by Victoria Will</em>
Photo by Victoria Will
Cate Blanchett's career is an exercise in extraordinary balance, even if, ironically, her latest project Tár, shows up the precariousness of the human spirit... her own, included. 

After winning a Golden Globe for her lead performance in Tár, Blanchett was tipped to win at this year’s Oscars, but lost to Michelle Yeoh, star of Everything Everywhere All At Once.

Speaking to MiNDFOOD about the awards she has garnered throughout her long career – two Oscar wins for The Aviator and Blue Jasmine – she says she doesn’t place too much value on Hollywood accolades.

“The true measure of performance can only ever come from within,” she says. “No award will ever convince you of your worthiness unless you feel it yourself too. Actors fake a lot to others, but never themselves.”

Known to play strong, complicated female characters, Blanchett certainly upholds the progress made by women over the last generation, despite encountering some criticism in Tár for her portrayal of a compromised female.

“The gender is irrelevant,” she says. “Lydia is a character, and suffers the same complications and conflictions as might a man. Put another way, there is no directive I have to only play strong females – it doesn’t work like that.

“Anyway, I don’t believe in the notion that a woman can ‘have it all’. I actually don’t know that many women who want ‘it all’, but what we should recognise is we have become so much more independent in terms of wanting to pursue careers in society and enjoying the same kinds of opportunities as men.”

 

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