best film: The Lord of the Rings features enough of Cate Blanchett to qualify here. Blanchett is quite good in her limited time on screen as Galadriel. The closest competition in this category for Tolkien and Peter Jackson’s epic masterpiece are The Aviator from Martin Scorsese and The Talented Mr. Ripley from Anthony Mingella. This category is a bit of a weakness for Blanchett in that she has not really been more front and center in some of her best films.
best performance: Todd Haynes’ Carol is probably next up after the three mentioned above as far as the question of Blanchett’s best film is concerned (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is sneaky good, too- vastly underrated), but Blanchett’s work in Carol does not sit behind any her other performances, this is her single best work. Blanchett plays the titular character- Carol Aird. The source material is from Patricia Highsmith (the author some amazing films including the aforementioned Talented Mr. Ripley). Todd Haynes is a Queer Cinema giant—and Carol is a major achievement—he is better when he is telling a straightforward narrative, with a strong female lead (Julianne Moore twice in Safe and Far from Heaven and Blanchett here), and focusing his impact on the mise-en-scene and not a funky narrative. His three strongest films are Safe, Far from Heaven and this— and his weakest are Poison, Velvet Goldmine and I’m Not There (also with Blanchett)—and Wonderstruck—all complex narrative creations without a strong female lead.

from Carol– the size of Blanchett’s performance and straight up screen presence is reminiscent of Bette Davis, Vivian Leigh—even a little Joan Crawford—Carol is a crucial film for Blanchett’s career.
stylistic innovations/traits: Blanchett has two undeniable strengths. Her depth of resume is the first and it is hard to deny. Even if you combine her work in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings and acknowledge some of her really small roles (I’m looking at you Coffee and Cigarettes, Knight of Cups and Don’t Look Up) she is still already hovering around twenty (20) archiveable films- up there with Tilda Swinton and Meryl Streep for the overall lead for any female actor. Counting all of her roles, Blanchett already leads over Swinton and Streep and she almost a decade younger than Swinton and two decades younger than Streep. Her second strength is her sheer range and talent. Two of her top five performances are playing Katharine Hepburn and Bob Dylan… stop and chew on that one for a minute. As Dylan in I’m Not There, Blanchett’s gender-bending (keeping with Haynes as a feminist artist, a figure of Queer cinema) performance is just awesome- it goes beyond just gimmick—she is electric—angered- shining like a beacon in a cast swimming with great actors (when you outduel Heath Ledger and Christian Bale- that is something).

from The Aviator– Cate Blanchett is wonderful here – it does take a minute to adjust to her quirkiness– she (as Katharine Hepburn) and Leo’s Hughes are so idiosyncratic (he is a multi-tasking dynamo, cannot hear, germaphobe) and big – great characters—but she goes toe to toe with him and they have a great intimate scene talking about how they are not like everyone else. Most of the film breezes by and is edited like a Capra film (a compliment) but this scene sticks—two of the best actors of their generation at the top of their craft.
directors worked with: Todd Haynes (2) and Peter Jackson (2- counting LOTR as one and The Hobbit as one) lead the way—nobody else more than once. Haynes is her most important single collaborator. To be clear, Blanchett has worked with almost all of the great contemporary auteurs: Terrence Malick, Woody Allen Martin Scorsese, Wes Anderson, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Jim Jarmusch David Fincher, Guillermo del Toro, Steven Soderbergh, Anthony Minghella, Tom Tykwer, Richard Linklater, Sam Raimi, Adam McKay and Joe Wright. But look at those names and the corresponding films—it is almost kind of miraculous but they are just about almost all among the weaker films for those great auteurs- certainly part luck or bad luck.

one cannot take their eyes off Blanchett in 2013’s Blue Jasmine– the second Oscar win for Blanchett (first being 2004’s The Aviator)
top five performances:
- Carol
- The Aviator
- Blue Jasmine
- Elizabeth
- I’m Not There
archiveable films
1998- Elizabeth |
1999- The Talented Mr. Ripley |
2000- The Gift |
2001- The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring |
2002- Heaven |
2002- The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers |
2003- Coffee and Cigarettes |
2003- The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King |
2004- The Aviator |
2004- The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou |
2006- Babel |
2006- Notes on a Scandal |
2006- The Good German |
2007- I’m Not There |
2008- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button |
2011- Hanna |
2012- The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey |
2013- Blue Jasmine |
2013- The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug |
2014- The Hobbit: The Battles of the Five Armies |
2015- Carol |
2015- Knight of Cups |
2017- Thor: Ragnarok |
2019- Where’d You Go, Bernadette |
2021- Don’t Look Up |
2021- Nightmare Alley |
Drake, love the site. Some are saying Todd Fields’ new film Tar contains Blanchett’s best performance. If she finally gets that big performance in a MS or MP film (let’s say Tar is such) do you think that would make Blanchett a Top 25 actress?
@Haider- Thank you for the kind words. I’ve been reading the same on Tar/Fields/Blanchett. I had hoped I was able to get to it before this page/update – but no such luck. I think the margins are pretty thin on this list so any big performance in a MS or MP film could move an actor up quite a bit- so the answer is yes here.
@Harry- appreciate the cleanup help here. Thank you
I had the great pleasure of seeing Tar last night and it’s an undisputed masterpiece. Blanchett is remarkable; it is the performance of her career. One of the top 5 acting performances of the 21st century and I think also one of the top 5 films of the century. A top shelf masterpiece.
@Leighton- Love reading this- thanks for sharing
Woah
Was able to catch Tar this weekend and loved it! Field is such a meticulous filmmaker, a treat to see the control he has over his narrative and visual framing. Some truly beautiful shots. Coming to Blanchett, her performance is utterly complex and breathtaking. Yet it’s also much more nuanced than I thought it would be.
If Blanchett doesn’t win the Oscar this year it will be a travesty.
Totally agreed. What a monumental performance, good lord. Though I’d also point out Michelle Yeoh, who gives a great, multi-faceted performance, the kind that the Academy usually doesn’t honor.
Drake have you caught Tar yet? I just walked out of the theatre, caught the very last showing of it in my town before it goes way
@Matthew- Not as of yet- Tar certainly went from something I wasn’t thinking about much earlier this year with how long off it has been for Todd Fields directing- to one of my most anticipated. I’m excited. I shouldn’t have any problem tracking this down before the 2022 page.
Any chance a fourth Australian, Toni Collette, sneaks into the top 100? Hereditary, I’m thinking of ending things, Little Miss Sunshine, Nightmare Ally, The Sixth Sense are decent top 5 films.
@Jagman- Interesting- I wasn’t keeping track of how many Australians- impressive. I am not going to reveal the list before I reveal the list, but certainly Hereditary is a game changer for Collette for sure.
Caught Tár (2022) for the 1st time
There was a great list posted by Graham and some additional picks from a few other posters on this site on the Werner Herzog page regarding “epic journey films” which started from a post I made about Aguirre
Epic Journey:
The Wizard of Oz
The Grapes of Wrath
The Searchers
Lawrence of Arabia
Pierrot le Fou
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
2001: A Space Odyssey
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
The Conformist
Star Wars
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Children of Men
WALL-E
Gravity
The Revenant
Mad Max: Fury Road
Characters Being Consumed by a Goal:
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Red River
Bicycle Thieves
Sunset Boulevard
Vertigo
8 1/2 (The goal of not having a goal)
Rosemary’s Baby
The French Connection
The Conversation
Jaws
JFK
Unforgiven
Zodiac
There Will Be Blood
Black Swan
Mesmerizing:
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
The Passion of Joan of Arc
Black Narcissus
The Night of the Hunter
L’Avventura
Viridiana
The Trial
Red Desert
Persona (I say all of Bergman below, but Persona must be mentioned twice. It is the most mesmerizing artistic work ever crafted.)
2001: A Space Odyssey
The Shining
Blade Runner
Rumble Fish
In the Mood for Love
Lost in Translation
The Assassination of Jesse James
The Master
Blade Runner 2049
+ All of Lynch, Tarkovsky, Malick, Bergman
I think Tár (2022) belongs on this list under 2 of the above 3 categories:
“Characters Being Consumed by a Goal”
“Mesmerizing”
I may need another viewing to further narrow my down but I don’t think it would be ean overstatement to say its a top 10 female performance of the 21st Century. It should also be said that Todd Field deserves credit for setting it up more as a character study than a more conventional plot driven film; in fact the first near 90 min only have a few brief references to the conflict that dominates the later parts of the film. This allows for an incredible character study:
Blanchett plays this role so well that appartently many people believed it was based on an actual person.
Blanchett plays Linda Tarr/Lydia Tár; this is an incredibly rich character; she is a musical genius who is brilliant, fascinating, and has an incredible passion for her art form. She is also arrogant, condescending, dismissive and lacking in empathy much of the film. She carries herself like a rock star, with incredible swagger and unbending confidence.
For those disappointed in the recent Sight and Sound Top 100 poll there is a scene that will stand out to you in which one of Lydia Tár’s students admits that he does not care for the music of Bach not on the basis of his actual music but rather for reasons related to identity politics. It’s definitely a standout scene, one of Blanchett’s best as her character goes on an epic diatribe resulting in the student walking out of the class.
The final 20-30 min are quite strange yet fascinating and the biggest reason why I am considering a 2nd viewing in the next couple of weeks even with a number of other 2022 films to catch up on.
Finally, was able to watch Tar on Peacock. The film was MAJOR, and can we take a minute to talk about those meticulous frame compositions and the mis-en-scene– wow, truly didn’t expect this from Todd Field to be quite honest. Blanchett was a tour-de-force, a pitch-perfect performance.
That Julliard scene that you’re talking about was apparently a oner?!! So many memorable moments in the film, but for me *Apartment for Sale* takes the cake. The first 1 hour is slow though, but I think it was an effective set up for the rest of the movie. And yes, totally agree about the final few minutes- perhaps the film’s most perplexing half hour, yet I think it works in a really surreal way. The movie also has a lot many hidden symbols and meanings, it’s ripe for a spoiler conversation.
Damn, Tar is one of the best female acting performance I’ve ever seen. HR/MS.
Rewatched Aviator (2004) for Scorsese study and was blown away by Blanchett’s performance. The first time I watched this film I was a teenage with limited knowledge of films made before 1970s. Seeing this performance after now having watched Bringing Up Baby (1938) takes the Blanchett performance to an entire different level for me. Her performance in Tar (2022) is the best performance of the 2020s so far (admittingly a weak decade so far but still) and one of the best of the 21st Century. I still need to see Blue Jasmine (2013) and others that have strong reviews. I don’t want to overdo it and try to not get caught up in the moment but sometimes I can’t help it so forgive me ha. But Blanchett is starting to seem like she might be heading for the top 10. She still does not have an all time great performance in a huge MP but the depth and range is unbelievable
Yeah when it comes to talent, I don’t really see any actress better than her. I wish she worked with directors I like. I only like The Aviator and LOTR from her filmography. Sadly she worked in a lesser Fincher/Inarritu movie, wouldve been nice if she was in one of their better films instead of Ben Button and Babel
Babel and Benjamin Button seem like masterpieces when compared to Linklater’s Where’d You Go, Bernadette
@Dylan – “hen it comes to talent, I don’t really see any actress better than her” Agreed, her talent if off the charts. She said she’s taking a break from acting for a bit, apparently all the preparation for Tar (2022) took a lot out of her and costs family time so classic work/personal life dilemma. Even so, I could see her going DDL route and being more selective about roles but going all out when she does. From 85-97 DDL was in 9 archivable films, and then just 4 archivable films in the next 20 years until retirement in 2017, but those 4 films are Gangs of New York, There Will Be Blood, Lincoln, and Phantom Thread
@James-I don’t see it. She already released New Boy(2023) this year after Tar.
@Malith – Interesting I was not aware but then again maybe not so surprising. This article is from February of this year
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-11748001/Oscar-favourite-Cate-Blanchett-announces-break-acting.html