Cate Blanchett spoke about the „uniqueness of shamelessness” in modern society during a discussion about her new Apple TV+ series, Disclaimer.
Blanchett’s character, Catherine Ravenscroft, faces public humiliation in the seven-episode psychological thriller. Asked at the Venice Film Festival if society’s shaming of women had changed in recent years and how she approached the role as a woman, the Australian actor and filmmaker said: “I always approach every role as a woman, because I am. One. I didn’t really think about it.
„There’s a peculiar lack of shame in society at the moment. Shame is very different from guilt. Guilt is a very useless emotion, and I don’t know what you do with it. But shame and regret and the lessons one can learn from it are very powerful.
However, Blanchett added that there is a lot of „shame” in the community.
„Look at the way you try to raise children. If you shame them publicly, it leads to anger. Private conversations are more powerful than public conversations. I’m not saying public ones aren’t important, but one-on-one, face-to-face conversations like reconciliation are more powerful than public shaming.
The psychological thriller, which premieres at the Lido on Thursday, will be five-time Oscar winner Alfonso Cuaron’s big-budget streaming series debut. Based on the best-selling novel by Renee Knight, it tells the story of a renowned journalist who discovers that she is the heroine of a novel that threatens to reveal her darkest secret.
As Catherine races to uncover the identity of the anonymous writer, she is forced to confront her past before it destroys her life and relationships with her husband (Sacha Baron Cohen) and their son (Cody Smit-McPhee). The show is narrated by Kevin Kline, Leslie Manville and Indira Varma.
„We all have dark sides,” Blanchett said. „I think there’s a belief system that if people don’t tell you everything, they have a bad side to hide. That’s called privacy.
„We think people are doing bad things if they’re not honest, but maybe we’re just manipulating them. I play a woman who has buried, traumatic things.
The actor mentioned Bessel van der Kolk’s book The Body Keeps the Score, which is about the effects of psychological trauma. „The way trauma lingers in the body at the cellular level and what happens to repressed memories. I found it fascinating and very painful, and I was very grateful that I wasn’t in that same place.
After walking the Cannes red carpet in a dress reminiscent of the Palestinian flag, Blanchett joked: „I’m going nude.”
Meanwhile, Crone, whose past film credits include Children of Men and Roma, addressed her journey on television. „I didn’t know how to direct TV, maybe it was too late to learn at this point in my life. We approached this whole thing as a film.
He admitted it was a „miscalculation” on his part. “A film takes a long time to shoot and these were like seven films. It was a long process and I really felt for the actors,” he said.