Worthing-based freelance critic, curator and film historian Pamela Hutchinson will be examining this and plenty of other questions when she gives a talk on Blanchett at this year’s Chichester International Film Festival (Mon, August 21, 11am) – from the young Queen Elizabeth to brutal Lydia Tár, the seductive older women in Carol and Notes on a Scandal to the high-society hysteria of Blue Jasmine.
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00:00 Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor for Sussex Newspapers. Fantastic
00:06 to be speaking to the Worthing-based film historian Pamela Hutchinson, who's going to
00:10 be coming to the Chichester International Film Festival this August to talk about Cate
00:16 Blanchett. Now, the hope is that Cate Blanchett will be there as well. Pamela, you've been
00:22 doing your talk on August 21st. Now, you have a fascination for Cate Blanchett. What is
00:27 it that makes her such a special actress in your view? Well, have you ever seen Cate Blanchett
00:32 in a bad film? I mean, it's very rare, I think. She's got a very striking persona and to me,
00:38 she is a fantastically, you know, talented actress who plays very complex characters,
00:44 but she has something of the sort of charisma and allure of a classic golden age star. It's
00:49 no surprise that she played Katherine Hepburn in a biopic. And I think that there's something
00:53 about her that sort of marks her out from her peers and that I'm looking forward to digging
00:57 into more of her films. Absolutely. And that Katherine Hepburn element is the fact that you
01:02 know it's Cate Blanchett, just as you know it's Katherine Hepburn, whatever they're playing,
01:06 yet they're still persuasive. Yeah, I mean, this is what makes a star like a star really,
01:11 rather than just a very good and very popular actress, that there's something about them that
01:15 you follow throughout their roles and that they embody lots of different concepts that make you
01:19 think that, you know, you can see someone who might be playing, you know, a romantic lead in
01:24 Carol or she might be playing a sort of anti-hero in Tar, and yet you're still thinking, well I want
01:28 to see Cate Blanchett play that role. I want to go there and see what she does with that.
01:33 And you mentioned Tar, is that her finest moment as far as you're concerned?
01:37 I mean, it's pretty hard to top. I think she's, you know, she's played lots of really fascinating
01:41 and complex characters, but Tar really, really set the bar even higher. And I am very excited
01:47 that we are going to be showing Tar as part of the Selective Retrospective at Chichester,
01:51 and hoping that she's going to, you know, hopefully she's going to join us for a Q&A
01:54 afterwards, and I'll have so many questions. That will be quite something. But another really
01:59 intriguing film is the one that was effectively her calling card, Elizabeth, Queen Elizabeth.
02:03 Yeah, I mean, so many people, when they have their sort of, especially female actors, when they have
02:08 their sort of international breakthrough, it's, you may be a smaller part or a romantic lead,
02:13 and, you know, this is a film about a young woman who's sent to say she's very angry and forceful
02:18 and has, you know, nations, you know, at her beck and call. And so to see this young woman sort of
02:24 embodying that role of Queen Elizabeth, playing her so young and so commanding, and, you know,
02:29 stepping into, again, this kind of golden age lineage, playing the sort of Bette Davis role,
02:34 I mean, it was really something else. And, you know, I think when we all saw Elizabeth,
02:38 we knew there were going to be more exciting films to come from that.
02:40 And that's where you first came across her, isn't it?
02:43 Absolutely, yeah, you know.
02:44 And you've followed her ever since?
02:47 Well, who doesn't, you know, I just happen to go to the cinema a lot.
02:50 Right. And if she does come to Chichester, and let's hope she does,
02:54 will this be the first time you met her?
02:56 Absolutely, yes. I've heard she's a great person to interview, actually,
03:01 I heard, very lovely. So I'm hoping, hoping we can make this work.
03:04 Brilliant. Well, let's look, if it happens. Pamela, really lovely to speak to you. You'll
03:08 be in Chichester as part of the season of Cape Larnship Films on August 21st.
03:13 Thank you very much indeed.
03:14 Thank you.
03:15 Thank you.