The secrets of Cate Blanchett: « Today it is difficult to trust others »

Secrets and lies. The daily bread for those who make a spy on the job. If he has the fortune of having a colleague as a spouse, the mélange can become explosive. Loyalty to your country or marriage? Incandescent matter on which Steven Soderbergh built Black Bag. Double game (in the room from April 30 with Universal): a spy story that overturns the codes of the genre and presents itself as a portrait of a wedding between Kathryn St. Jean (a Cate Blanchett in a brown version) and George Woodhouse (Michael Fassbender), sophisticated and formidable agents of his British majesty. Devote to their country but even more to their union, jeopardize when George is asked to investigate five possible traitors, including Kathryn herself.

Actors also play with fiction, a wedding invitation for her.

«I accepted in a closed box. Written by David Koepp (a guarantee, his from Carlito’s Way to Mission Impossible, editor’s note), directed by
Steven, I didn’t need anything else. The film is fun and, I hope, romantic. However, I believe that capturing the spirit of time, makes us reflect how difficult it is to trust people and have lasting relationships ».

The black bag of the title is a defense for the spies, a limit that others cannot cross. Do you also apply to ordinary people?

«A spy does not reveal what’s in his briefcase, not even his partner. Kathryn and George are all for each other. The passion for work and mutual trust is their compass. The film plays on ambiguity, but suggests that each of us would do well to keep a sort of secret bag to protect their relationship ».

« Maybe. They are excellent listeners, in this I recognize myself. People tell more things than imagine. I am fascinated by their movement on the edge of the razor between morality and amorality. They can have no limits because they know they will have to go beyond them. Their six know each other well but everyone has secrets to defend ».

Two Oscar prizes, eight nominations, revered directors and colleagues and colleagues who consider it a myth, an inspiration. What effect does it have?

«When I congratulate me, I feel like talking about another person. I’m glad, but I don’t feel like an example. Indeed, I happen to think how I could have done better, or I find myself stroking the idea of ​​stopping ».

THENvece has an impressive filmography and continuously to update: the new by Jim Jarmush and « Alpha Gang » on an alien invasion is coming.

«The most interesting roles are not necessarily those with the most jokes. I am looking for projects of different sizes and ambitions, styles, actors and different directors. As an actress this is what refreshes you: use the muscles you don’t know. It is the reason why, so far, I have continued ».

It is back from a triumphal Tronfal to Barbich in London.

« With The seagull. Twenty years I did Nina, now Irina Arkadina. A nice trajectory. Not being Russian, I don’t start from the original text. Each time it is an adaptation, my husband too (the playwright Andrea Upton are married since ’97. editor’s note) has made many. This version of Thomas Ostermeier is different from all, as a mirage. I like the theater, you are part of a group, soft certainties, you accept embarrassments from the rehearsal room ».

It is held at a safe distance from Hollywood, right?

“I think Hollywood is a mood. A model overcome from the time. Just think of the films that have won the Oscars in recent years. The tastes of the public are increasingly varied, I say it by observing my children, they are omnivorous. But Hollywood should be treated reverence because films such as Steven’s were born there, made with medium, witty, fun and elegant budgets, with an excellent cast. Adult movies that are no longer made: I think that Black Bag be so ».

In January in Rotterdam he launched the Film Fund’s Displacement, to finance works by refugee directors. The first five names will be announced in Cannes. Can cinema make a difference?

«It can drop you in the reality of someone’s life like no other form of art. It is the spirit of this initiative. When people have to leave their homes, they lose access to the most elementary things, but as artists also lose access to the means to create, at a time when it is more vital than ever ».

© RESERVED REPRODUCTION