Superstar actor Cate Blanchett returns, this time in AnOther Magazine’s Spring-Summer 2023 issue, lensed by Harley Weir [IG]. The actor is styled by Robbie Spencer in Alexander McQueen, Gabriela Hearst, Issey Miyake, Junya Watanabe, Steve O Smith, Y/Project and more./ Hair by Robert Vetica; makeup by Mary Greenwell; Louis Vuitton jewelry throughout the fashion story

Blanchett talks to The Argonauts author Maggie Nelson about power, ambiguity – and her award-winning performance as Lydia Tár. The highly-acclaimed film is struggling at the box office. And even some reviewers find the film to be a gut punch.

Marin Alsop is an American conductor, the first woman to win the Koussevitzky Prize for conducting and the first conductor to be awarded a MacArthur Fellowship — the latter regarded to be in near-Nobel Prize prestige.

The Guardian writes: “Tár, the US conductor told the Sunday Times, was “anti-woman” and a personal affront. The film could have told the story of a rapacious male monster, but chose instead to make its lead a female conductor. “To have an opportunity to portray a woman in that role and to make her an abuser,” Alsop said. “For me, that was heartbreaking.”’

Blanchett is heavily favored to take a Best Actress Award for Tár at the Oscars. Cate has already locked down a Golden Globes Best Actress award and also a BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role.

Neither Tár Director Todd Field or Blanchett are eager — or even interested — in providing a Cliff Notes version of the complex and emotionally-demanding film. When asked to specifically address the sexism charge made by Marin Alsop, Blanchett responds. “Behind that question, are you saying that perhaps people don’t want to see a woman behave in a way that’s human?” she asks.

“In characters I play, always, I think about them as human beings and I think about their gender only when it’s referenced by another character or the circumstances bringing that person’s gender into presence,” Blanchett told W Magazine. “What I loved about the script and what I loved about the film is, I think, it is deeply respectful of the fact that women are not a monolith.”