Joan Hernandez Mir, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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By Geoff Carter
The high cheekbones, piercing eyes, firm set of her jaw, and throaty contralto give Cate Blanchett an imperiousness rivalled by few other actresses. Perhaps only Katherine Hepburn demonstrated quite as much command on the screen as Blanchett—the other Cate. It’s also very interesting, and a little ironic, to note that Ms. Blanchett did a dead-on portrayal of Ms. Hepburn in The Aviator, Martin Scorsese’s biopic of Howard Hughes.
She is no stranger to royalty, having portrayed the titular role in Elizabeth I and Galadriel the Elf Queen (a role she reprised numerous times) in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Her depiction of the titular hard-nosed journalist in Veronica Guerin or the deviously brilliant psychologist in Nightmare Alley also convey the persona of a strong-willed and determined woman. Yet she also has the range to play the flighty socialite Meredith Logue in The Talented Mr. Ripley or the emotionally fractured and manipulative Jasmine in Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine or the quintessentially evil Hela in Thor: Ragnarok. She also—stunningly—played Bob Dylan (or one iteration of him) in I’m Not There.
She has—paradoxically—hauntingly beautiful yet subtly strong features that communicate a persona of strength and grace, a delicate velvet glove draped over an iron fist. That, and her full-bodied voice, are the main elements of her regal bearing.
One critic has said that watching Blanchett act is a waiting game. Her approach to playing a role is to communicate that character’s innermost motivations and inspirations to an audience, to create that subtle link. To Ms. Blanchett, the audience is king. She does not act for self-aggrandizement or self-gratification, but to communicate the foibles, absurdities, and grandness of the human condition. Character is revealed—as it is with all of us—when the masks her characters wear slip or crumble. That’s when we see the essence of her characters. We see Galadriel’s naked ambition shine forth when Frodo offers her the ring. We see the protective barriers constructed against her father slowly erode in The Missing as she begins to respect—and need—the man she once loathed. In every sense, and at all times, watching Cate Blanchett act is a revelation.
The Top Ten Films of Cate Blanchett
Blue Jasmine: In this Woody Allen production, Blanchett plays “Jasmine” Francis, a socialite who has fallen on hard times. Her money-manager husband Hal (Alec Baldwin) has been arrested for defrauding her clients and subsequently commits suicide in prison. Broke, and with nowhere else to go, Jasmine travels to San Francisco to stay with her sister Ginger (Sally Hawkins) and her boyfriend Chili (Bobby Cannavale), whom she loathes because she considers him “beneath” her. Jasmine meets Dwight (Peter Sarsgaard) a wealthy ambassador whom she tries to seduce, but when he discovers she has lied to him, he dumps her. Jasmine has an argument with Ginger and Chili and moves out. Blanchett’s performance as the brittle, wheedling, and demanding Jasmine is outstanding. She shifts roles from Jasmine as manipulator to victim to snob as effortlessly as a Ferrari going from zero to sixty.
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Sally Hawkins, Bobby Cannavale, Louis C.K., Andrew Dice Clay, and Peter Sarsgaard. Written and directed by Woody Allen.
Lord of the Rings Trilogy: As Galadriel, Queen of the Elves, Blanchett once again demonstrated the ease with which she can depict regal bearing and royal grace. Galadriel is the mightiest and fairest of the Elves left in Middle-Earth and is instrumental in helping Frodo on his journey to Mordor in order to destroy the one ring. Her royal bearing is kind yet stern, and the viewer senses a passion underneath the cool and somewhat aloof exterior. When Frodo unexpectedly offers her the ring, her mask slips and for a moment we see the ambition and powerlust at her core. It is a moment of revelation; it’s almost too bad that Jackson saw fit to nearly overwhelm Blanchett’s performance with special effects.
Starring: Elijah Wood, Viggo Mortenson, Sean Bean, Ian McKellen, Sean Astin, Liv Tyler, Cate Blanchett, and Orlando Bloom. Screenplay by Fran Walsh, Phillipa Boyens, Peter Jackson, and Stephen Sinclair. Directed by Peter Jackson.
Carol: This critically acclaimed film, about a young photographer Therese (Rooney Mara) and Carol (Cate Blanchett), a woman going through a nasty divorce, centers on the sublime and immutable attraction between the two women in the repressive era of 1952 America. They meet at the department store where Therese works and meet afterwards when Therese returns the gloves Carol had forgotten at the store. In an environment where an openly gay relationship could jeopardize Carol’s custody battle for her daughter, the two still choose to be together. Blanchett’s performance has been lauded as one of her best. The chemistry between her and Mara simply leaps off the screen, and Carol’s tortured tightrope walk between societal expectations and her own desires is remarkable.
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, Kyle Chandler, Sarah Paulson, Jake Lacy, Carrie Brownstein, and John Magaro. Written by Phyllis Nagy. Directed by Todd Haynes.
Elizabeth I: In this historical drama depicting the enthronement and consequent struggles of the Virgin Queen (Cate Blanchett) to revitalize and consolidate an England besieged by debt, power-hungry nobles, and a hostile Catholic Church. Blanchett portrays the vulnerable young queen as she struggles to maintain her own identity while playing a dangerous political game with her many enemies. As Elizabeth resists the manipulations of the Duke of Norfolk (Christopher Eccleston) for her to marry, battles Mary of Guise (Fanny Ardant), and finally severs England’s relations with the Vatican, Blanchett subtly and incrementally shows Elizabeth’s growing confidence and self-assurance as a world leader. The viewer can see Blanchett’s imperious persona, as seen in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, begin to flourish as she grows into her position as the most powerful person in the world.
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Richard Attenborough, Geoffrey Rush, Joseph Fiennes, Christopher Eccleston, and Fanny Ardant. Written by Michael Hirst. Directed by Shekhar Kapur.
The Talented Mr. Ripley: In this psychological thriller, young Tom Ripley (Matt Damon), after being mistaken for a Princeton alumnus, is asked by shipping magnate Herbert Greenleaf (James Rebhorn) to retrieve his son Dickie (Jude Law)—a fellow Princeton alum—from languishing away in Italy. On the way, Ripley assumes Dickie’s identity, and befriends Meredith Logue (Blanchett), another socialite. Ripley meets Dickie and his girlfriend Marge Sherwood (Gwyneth Paltrow) and becomes infatuated with the two of them. Eventually, Ripley dispenses with Dickie and assumes his identity, narrowly evading discovery at numerous turns by disposing of those who would expose him. Even in her small supporting role as Logue, Blanchett manages to steal most of the scenes in which she appears. Her naïvete and enthusiasm as well as her juvenile infatuation with Ripley are priceless. Plus—once again—her accent rocks.
Starring: Matt Damon, Jude Law, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Gwyneth Paltrow, Cate Blanchett, James Rebhorn, and Jack Davenport. Written and directed by Anthony Minghella.
Nightmare Alley: In this Guillermo Del Toro remake of the noir classic, Bradley Cooper plays Stan Carlisle, a manipulative magician/psychic who can supposedly read minds. He plays his cards so well he rises from a carnival sideshow huckster to a high-class performer appearing in only the best clubs. When he is confronted by Dr. Lilith Ritter (Blanchett), a psychologist who recognizes his schtick and manipulates him into a scam involving a wealthy industrialist, he succumbs to her charms until she finally outsmarts him at his own game. As a noir-type femme fatale, Blanchett displays the tough as nails veneer flawlessly. She seems as cold as ice, even as she seduces the hapless Stan and finally takes everything—including his past—from him.
Starring: Bradley Cooper, Rooney Mara, Cate Blanchett, Toni Collette, Richard Strathairn, Willem Dafoe, and Richard Jenkins. Written by Guillermo Del Toro and Kim Morgan. Directed by Guillermo Del Toro.
I’m Not There: In a set of remarkable performances (including Richard Gere, Heath Ledger, and Christian Bale) portraying Bob Dylan in different phases of his career, Blanchett’s depiction as the folk singer confronting angry fans and baffled critics in his unexpected embrace of the electric sound (and alleged betrayal of his acoustic sound), is simply jaw-dropping. Not only does she nail Dylan’s singing voice during the concert sequences, but her mannerisms and dead-on flat Midwestern American accent are almost preternaturally accurate, but the performance is much more than that. Blanchett also captures the frustration and disillusionment of an artist entrapped by the expectations of his public—and thereby restricted in his artistic freedom.
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger, Christian Bale, Michelle Williams, Marcus Carl Franklin, and Ben Whishaw. Written by Todd Haynes and Oren Moverman. Directed by Todd Haynes.
Veronica Guerin: In this somewhat formulaic biopic about crusading Irish reporter Veronica Guerin (Cate Blanchett), who almost singlehandedly took on Dublin’s illicit drug trade, Blanchett captures Guerin’s zealous—and foolhardy—determination to expose the criminals peddling drugs to Ireland’s children, as well—as once again—mastering a foreign accent. Most Hollywood versions of these crusader tales tend to portray their protagonists as quixotic idealists but Blanchett’s heroine has a streak of self-aggrandizement in her. Blanchett hints that Guerin’s passion is not solely for the good of the masses, but also as a self-destructive self-gratification.
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Ciarin Hinds, Gerard McSorley, Brenda Fricker, Barney Barnes, Simon O’Driscoll, and Alan Devine. Written by Carol Doyle and Mary Agnes Donoghue. Directed by Joel Schumacher.
The Life Aquatic of Steve Zissou: In this typically whimsical Wes Anderson vehicle, undersea researcher and television personality Steve Zisson (Bill Murray) vows revenge after his partner Esteban du Plantier (Seymour Cassell) is devoured by a jaguar shark. He and his oddball crew, including his ex-wife Eleanor (Angelica Huston), first mate Klaus Daimler (Willem Dafoe), and Jane Winslett-Richardson (Blanchett) a pregnant who has come to chronicle the hunt for the jaguar shack. The crew is also accompanied by Ned Plimpton (Owen Wilson) who believes Zissou is his father. In typical Anderson fashion, the crew encounters pirates, rival oceanographers, and financial difficulties before finally encountering their quarry. As Winslett-Richardson, Blanchett conveys an air of professional detachment—even arrogance—while being pursued romantically by both Zissou and Plimpton. She seems unattainable and dangerous, almost like the Sirens in The Odyssey.
Starring: Bill Murray, Willem Dafoe, Owen Wilson, Angelica Huston, Jeff Goldblum, Michael Gambon, and Bud Cort. Written by Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach. Directed by Wes Anderson.
The Missing: In this neo-Western, Sam Jones (Tommy Lee Jones) returns to the home of Maggie Gilkeson (Blanchett), hoping to reconcile with her after abandoning Maggie and her mother years before to live with the Chiricahuas. When Maggie’s eldest daughter Lily (Evan Rachel Wood) is kidnapped by the renegade El Brujo, she enlists the help of her father to help retrieve her daughter. The two of them, and Maggie’s youngest daughter Dot (Jenna Boyd) trail the renegades to their lair, and rescue the group of kidnapped women, fighting off El Brujo’s gang in a climactic standoff. As a woman making her way alone on the frontier—with the help of hired hand Brake Baldwin (Aaron Eckahrt)—Blanchett maintains a façade of strength and determination in the horrors of death and massacre. When the mask slips occasionally, as when she smells the bedding of the recently departed Brake or rides past the carnival recording machine Lily had wanted to use, shadows of regret and fear slip into her guarded eyes.
Starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Cate Blanchett, Evan Rachel Wood, Jenna Boyd, Aaron Eckhart, Val Kilmer, and Elisabeth Moss. Screenplay by Ken Kaufman. Directed by Ron Howard.