Cate Blanchett is the female actor version of Daniel Day-Lewis. Daniel Day-Lewis is the male actor version of Cate Blanchett. Tomato Tomahto. While Day-Lewis may be a little more selective in his roles than Blanchett, resulting in fewer Oscar nominations (six – all in leading roles) than Blanchett’s seven (four in a leading role, three in a supporting role). Day-Lewis has won three Oscars, to Blanchett’s two (The Aviator\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0Blue Jasmine<\/a>). Day-Lewis (65 years old at the time of this post) has said he is retired, finishing his career in 2016, carrying an Oscar nomination for\u00a0Phantom Thread<\/em><\/a>\u00a0with him. However, Blanchett is anything but finished. In the discussion for the best in her craft, Blanchett is a sure-fire lock for her eighth Oscar nomination and the early leader for her role as Lydia Tar in Todd Field’s (Little Children<\/a>, In the Bedroom<\/em>) meticulous-crafted and timely T\u00c1R.<\/p>\n

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Blanchett is better than ever, starring as Lydia T\u00e1r, a world-renowned composer and conductor. The movie begins with a 15-minute interview between Lydia and New Yorker journalist Adam Gopnik. If you are unfamiliar with Gopnik or his interviewing style, think of a James Lipton Inside the Actors Studio, with the first female conductor for the Berlin Philharmonic rather than an established Hollywood A-lister. Inside a packed New York City auditorium, Gopnik gives the audience (both those sitting in the studio as well as the moviegoer) an extensive introduction, consisting of a list of accomplishments, one which includes a part of the exclusive EGOT club, which consists of a short list of individuals who have won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony award.<\/p>\n

She has composed all over the world with the most outstanding symphony companies. The interview with Gopnik is one in which she is there to promote another career milestone, a live recording of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 5. In these 15 minutes, we come to know Lydia as a virtuoso pianist, a master of ethnomusicology, and a versatile conductor, her skills, abilities, and accomplishments are only upstaged by her pretentiousness and ego. Is Field foreshadowing Lydia’s tragic flaw? We can’t help but think so.<\/p>\n