Even from her native Australia, Cate Blanchett has long felt a connection to Winnipeg filmmaker Guy Maddin鈥檚 quirky, singular films.
The Oscar-winning actress admires the way the Manitoban auteur鈥檚 work 鈥 from 2007鈥檚 docu-fantasy 鈥淢y Winnipeg鈥 to 2017鈥檚 Alfred Hitchcock love letter 鈥淭he Green Fog鈥 鈥 possesses 鈥渁 strange universality鈥 despite its idiosyncrasies.
鈥淗e can make a film that鈥檚 so specifically about Winnipeg and his childhood, and yet I watch it gasping and weeping and not fully comprehending what I'm seeing while on the other side of the world,鈥 Blanchett said during an interview at the Toronto International Film Festival.
鈥淚 think that's astonishing. He's been working in this very particular underground way for so long, and if you look at the work of a lot of filmmakers who may not necessarily say they're influenced by Guy, you can see his influence.鈥
So when their mutual friend Ari Aster, the indie horror master behind 鈥淗ereditary鈥 and 鈥淢idsommar,鈥 asked Blanchett if she鈥檇 like to star in Maddin鈥檚 new black comedy 鈥淩umours,鈥 which he produced, she couldn鈥檛 pass it up. The film hits theatres Friday.
鈥淚t was really wonderful having Cate on board because all of a sudden, casting got a lot easier,鈥 Maddin recalled on a virtual call from Winnipeg.
鈥淎gents didn't just blow our emails off.鈥
鈥淩umours,鈥 which Maddin helmed with collaborators Evan and Galen Johnson, follows seven leaders of the world's wealthiest democracies as they gather for the annual G7 summit, hosted by Blanchett's German Chancellor Hilda Ortmann. Tasked with drafting a provisional statement addressing a global crisis, the politicians encounter unexpected hurdles including a bog zombie apocalypse, messy dalliances, and a mysterious giant brain. The film also stars Alicia Vikander as the secretary-general of the European Commission and Roy Dupuis as the Canadian prime minister.
The most obvious point 鈥淩umours鈥 appears to convey is that the planet's most powerful individuals are, in reality, clueless bureaucrats incapable of accomplishing anything.
However, Maddin emphasizes the filmmaking trio was more focused on examining how human desires drive world leaders than on crafting a political satire. He likens the movie to a soap opera.
鈥淭he theatre of politics, and the pleasure one gets from it, is not exactly dissimilar from nighttime soaps. There's certainly vilified people on both sides and everything is reduced in the news stream to evilly motivated policies and things like that,鈥 Maddin said.
At the centre of the melodrama is Dupuis鈥 Prime Minister Maxime Laplace, Canada鈥檚 forlorn, man-bunned leader who鈥檚 desperate to rekindle his past tryst with British Prime Minister Cardosa Dwindt, played by Nikki Amuka-Bird.
鈥淐anada in the movie is kind of like the teenager. He鈥檚 not really taken seriously, but Maxime is very passionate. He likes strong women. He鈥檚 also very courageous. He鈥檚 into action. He likes to help,鈥 Dupuis said.
鈥淭hat last part is probably closer to what Canada is. We鈥檙e the peacekeepers.鈥
Yet Laplace鈥檚 grand talk of peace often rings hollow. In one scene, while encircled by bog zombies, he delivers a well-spun apology only to then whack them over the head with a shovel to make his escape.
Evan Johnson says the scene is a joke about the hypocrisy of land acknowledgments, and one of the film鈥檚 more pointed political statements.
鈥淪ome (land acknowledgments) I find profoundly moving and useful, and then other times you just feel like you're watching a major institution with all kinds of share-profit motivation use its audience and use a false claim to Indigenous empathy,鈥 he said.
鈥淚t just seemed like a very direct thing a Canadian prime minister would have an instinct for: a false, hollow apology followed by 鈥楲et's get out of here.鈥欌
Maddin says every time he and the Johnsons found themselves veering too much into obvious social commentary, they would insert 鈥渁 writerly U-turn鈥 into the script.
鈥淲e just didn't want to make a Monday crossword puzzle that could be quickly solved and discarded,鈥 he said.
鈥淲e wanted to make an object that's beautiful and has nice sounds and is easy on the eyes and is a bit puzzling, but somehow feels true or familiar in ways you鈥檇 never put it yourself as a viewer.鈥
Nevertheless, Blanchett says the film has an unmistakable message in the way it holds a mirror up to the 鈥渁bsolute absurdity of what we've been left with in terms of global leadership.鈥
鈥淭here are so many crises besetting us 鈥 the intersection of climate and human displacement and global warfare; the threat of nuclear weapons; the collapse of Western democracies. I mean, you name it. They're all interlinked,鈥 she said.
鈥淎nd every year the G7 gathers. And every year we get the same speech. Every year we watch them do these surreal and slightly artificial cultural events. I mean, it felt like we were making a documentary."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2024.
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