When Cate Blanchett stepped out of her first screening for 鈥� ,鈥� she wanted to immediately go back and watch it again.
Sure, she might be a little biased considering she stars in the film ( ), but it鈥檚 not an uncommon sentiment either. Writer-director Todd Field鈥檚 dense, literate drama about the fall of an artistic genius in a #MeToo scandal is one that begs discussion and another viewing. As Field has said, .
This weekend, 鈥湴彰“�,鈥� which is sure to be a top contender this awards season, is expanding in theaters nationwide. Field and Blanchett spoke to The Associated Press about the inscrutable Lydia 罢谩谤, their inspirations and NOT showing her hands playing the piano.
Remarks have been edited for clarity and brevity.
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AP: The film introduces Lydia at a New Yorker Festival-type event, with Adam Gopnik reading her introduction to a big auditorium. Was that just a way to give us her bio or is this commenting on the ideas conference industry and its complicity?
FIELD: The important thing was how do we meet her? You know, if you meet her at her very height, in a very public way, there鈥檚 an opportunity to see it in the same way that we鈥檙e in this interview right now, like we鈥檙e trying to have an honest conversation, but we鈥檙e performing for you.
BLANCHETT: Hey! This is ME. This is who I am.
FIELD: It鈥檚 an aspect of her. Then we see her sitting with her business partner, this investment banker and would be conductor (Mark Strong), and you can tell she doesn鈥檛 want to be there. Then you see her roll up your sleeves and she鈥檚 teaching, which is the thing that she truly, truly loves doing. But it鈥檚 not until 40 minutes into the film that we see her brushing her teeth. Then it鈥檚, 鈥淎h, she鈥檚 like me.鈥� We learn a lot of back story about her, but it鈥檚 really about how and when we meet the person. There are all kinds of narrative rules about when we鈥檙e supposed to meet the person. Syd Field would tell you we have to know by page ten. But that鈥檚 not how this thing works. It was important to meet the character as they鈥檙e perceived in these other ways before we were allowed to have access to her.
AP: At one of the screenings in Venice, the audience was cheering for Lydia when she鈥檚 dressing down her Julliard student for dismissing Bach as irrelevant to him, which I don鈥檛 think they鈥檇 do on a second watch. Does that response surprise you?
FIELD: I don鈥檛 think it surprises me. But what you鈥檙e saying, that I don鈥檛 think that they would do that on the second watch, that鈥檚 kind of the idea. That scene can be seen through many lenses. The lens that we started with was simply the age-old question, if you could speak to younger self, what would you say? I think that this character, when she was 24 years old and in a similar position as Max is at Juilliard when she was at Harvard, she was trying to break the boundaries that were set up in terms of the German Austro canon. But she鈥檚 not 24 years old anymore. She鈥檚 turning 50.
AP: Though she pushed boundaries, is she also a woman who maybe only achieved this kind of success by playing within the rules of the patriarchy too?
BLANCHETT: That鈥檚 part of it. But she believes in the power of her being the exception. Once you surmount a mountain, you think, God, it鈥檚 beautiful up here. And the beauty makes you forget how difficult the journey was. She鈥檚 a consummate musician. And she鈥檚 a believer, a great believer in the grand narratives, in the grand tradition. She鈥檚 earned the right to play those big works. It鈥檚 the same thing that they teach at college. It鈥檚 like, sure, you can abstract, but first you have to learn how to paint the form. You鈥檝e always got a buck against your teachers. But you forget.
AP: This film does a good job at making you feel like an insider in the world of classical music too.
FIELD: There鈥檚 not a lot of footage of conductors doing extensive rehearsals and it鈥檚 so much more interesting watching them rehearse than watching a performance. Our goal was can we take the viewer and make them feel like they鈥檝e been in the front of the house, in the back of the house, and that they that they鈥檙e going through some kind of process with this character?
BLANCHETT: I learned a lot from watching the documentaries (on the likes of Carlos Kleiber, Herbert von Karajan). There are all of these backstage moments I found really fascinating. Abbado, after his first concert when he took over the role of principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, he came off and someone went to talk to him. He was covered in sweat and he moved away and he walked way up the corridor and just stood really still and put one hand against the wall. It was such a lonely, lonely image. You felt the burden that he was carrying, the responsibility for creating the sound and carrying that orchestra to the to that audience.
FIELD: We stole that image for the end.
AP: You cast some professional musicians here, but you also made the radical choice to have your actors, like Cate and Nina Hoss, learn how to play as well.
FIELD: The finest actors I have known and the finest musicians I have known are very similar because they understand very practical principles about touch and tempo and dynamics and sound. It was important that everyone who makes music on screen makes the music. There鈥檚 a kind of long-standing sort of joke, well I call it a joke, but maybe Cate feels differently about this, where she get rather bothered that I don鈥檛 show her hands at the Julliard scene playing the Bach.
BLANCHETT: (laughs)
FIELD: If it was Leonard Bernstein or somebody like that, you wouldn鈥檛 feel obliged to do it. If you go back and look at those that he did in the 50s at Carnegie Hall, they鈥檙e not showing his hands. My point was that the only time we ever feel obliged to show actors hands on pianos is when they鈥檙e faking it.
BLANCHETT: Or if it鈥檚 for Academy consideration.
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Follow AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ldbahr.
Lindsey Bahr, The Associated Press
