海角社区官网

The rush to judgment is heady and disorienting. Ravenscroft is labelled 鈥渁wful鈥� and sometimes 鈥渁wful, awful鈥� by everyone.

“Disclaimer,” which is based on the 2015 novel by Ren茅e Knight, also stars Kevin Kline and Lesley Manville, as bereaved parents of a boy connected to Ravenscroft鈥檚 past. An unrecognizable Sacha Baron Cohen plays Ravenscroft鈥檚 husband.聽

Shifting and blurring points of view make the series, written, directed and executive produced by Alfonso Cuar贸n, a taut and immersive viewing experience. Blanchett spoke about the project from Venice, where she appeared in support of the show.

She arrives in 海角社区官网for the Monday afternoon screening, one of a trio of events at TIFF. She will also attend the premiere of the black comedy “Rumours” on Monday evening and receive the Share Her Journey Groundbreaker Award at the TIFF Tribute Awards fundraiser on Sunday.

Making Cate Blanchett laugh in conversation 鈥� whether it is real or not, as she is a very, very good actor 鈥� is wholly satisfying. She gave a great belly laugh when asked 鈥淚s it hard to play a woman that no one likes?鈥� Then, ever the pro, she deflected the focus onto her director.

鈥淚 think it was more of an exercise in form, for Alfonso Cuar贸n,鈥� she said of the four-time Oscar-winning director of “Roma” and “Children of Men.”

鈥淚t was a challenge as an actor to play someone who didn鈥檛 speak, through choice, but who also was prevented from speaking for such a long portion of the story, so that there鈥檚 time for this series of multifarious judgments to be made about the character and what had transpired.鈥� Not having the dialogue to express the inner workings of the character was difficult, she said.

Here my cat broke into the Zoom conversation, which was freaky, because “Disclaimer” has cats stalk around the houses of all the main characters throughout.

I longed to ask her what the cats meant but, alas, time is short on these festival press junkets. We spoke instead about the juxtaposition of technology. In the flashbacks woven throughout of events from 20 years prior, it’s all postcards and Nikon cameras. The plot is propelled by a book. Then, in the present, technology supercharges things, and we get pile-on cancellations and catfishing.

Blanchett reflected on this. 鈥淲hen communities were smaller and less global, pieces of information were shared in much slower form, then the notion of people being ostracized took years if not decades to happen or events to come to light.鈥�

Truth itself has become mutable, a major theme of the series. In the past, she said, we had 鈥渁n understood sense of what was true and what a community believed. Now I think that that has been massively eroded. If you think about Twitter as a platform, I remember talking to journalists about it, saying it was an incredibly important tool for them to get leads to stories. But now those tweets become stories in and of themselves.鈥�

It鈥檚 a clich茅, she added, 鈥渂ut now the sound bite culture actually prevents information or the truth such as it is from being understood. There are so many different perspectives that go to make up the truth and I think that that is what Alfonso is playing with in the series. There are so many points of view that are brought to bear on the events that the story tells.鈥�

The speed of Ravenscroft鈥檚 very modern shunning is supposed to make your head spin. 鈥淭his thing is all about the rapidity of judgment that the audience is invited to make and that the characters in the story make,鈥� all of which takes place with very little information and with no one really asking questions, Blanchett said. Which is ironic, because Ravenscroft is an investigative journalist.

鈥淭here are very few places where I feel that discussions can take place in a nuanced way anymore,” said Blanchett. “These are very complex situations and relationships that exist and yet we talk about them in very simplistic terms,鈥� illuminating another major theme of the series.

Switching gears to talk about her appearance on the TIFF red carpet in support of “Rumours,” Blanchett said she savoured having a punch line about the Treaty of Maastricht in the movie.

鈥淭hey had me at hello,鈥� she said of Canadian co-directors Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson and Galen Johnson. 鈥淚鈥檝e long been an admirer of Guy鈥檚 chutzpah and his creative invention. The collage artist-cum-filmmaker that he is, he鈥檚 got such a fantastic sense of theatre and irreverence, he is intensely soulful and personal.鈥�

The film, which was shot in Winnipeg and Budapest, is an absurdist exploration of a G7 conference. Blanchett plays fictional German chancellor Hilda Ortmann, complete with boxy jacket and a hair flip.

Ortmann tries to wrangle the leaders of the free world at a summit where they are stripped of their communication devices, and abandoned by aids and catering staff as they try to compose a draft statement of agreement. Ortmann at one point tries to get the crew to open up by sharing their biggest regrets. That is before they come upon the giant brain in the forest or the resurrected bog monsters. She also has a romantic moment with the Canadian playboy prime minister, who toggles chaotically between melancholy and swagger.

All that political sound and fury, signifying nothing? 鈥淲e are living through incredibly, impossibly absurd times,鈥� said Blanchett.

鈥淭o say they are purely absurd belies the fact of the contravening of basic human rights around the globe, where it seems very little is being done to stop it and to reach consensus to the betterment of the world as a whole,鈥� she added.

Maybe it isn鈥檛 such a stretch after all. 鈥淪o the fact that these world leaders find themselves beset upon by bog monsters in Bavaria, I mean it does feel very close to a documentary at times.鈥�

“Disclaimer” screens Sept. 9, 11 and 15 at TIFF, and “Rumours” Sept. 9 and 10. See for information.