PERFORMANCE PERSPECTIVES

"Charlotte Gray"

THE PERFECT EXAMPLE

It's worth a visit to the "Charlotte Gray" website (www.charlottegraymovie.warnerbros.com/) to look at the screen presence and performance process of CATE BLANCHETT. If it weren't for copyright issues the pictures, which are there, would be on this page for you to examine immediately. CATE BLANCHETT is remarkable. Folklore would have it that she didn't complete her education at NIDA as the offers of work were already manifesting themselves. Now with an established international career and an Oscar nomination for her role in "Elizabeth" she is in constant demand moving from one role to the next and from one medium to the other. Equally at home on stage or screen she is the complete actor.

So, take a look at those photos.

Process Revealed
Is it possible to see performance process in a still photo? It certainly is and if the actor is CATE BLANCHETT then the evidence is writ large. What words spring to mind from viewing these frames - alert, engaged, assessing, listening, questing understanding, dominating, challenging, desiring? She is so strongly connected to the events happening around her and so committed to seeking the information that will inform her next choice that in a frozen frame of her face we understand all the circumstances of that moment, both seeing and understanding much more than is in the picture.

Not knowing what answers she will find she is engaged in the events of the moment.

Active Assessment
The other thing that is abundantly evident from CATE BLANCHETT'S performance as Charlotte Gray is that the active engagement one can see in her still photos is the primary way she is focused for the majority of the film. Whether it is in a relaxed way or sadly or happily or determinedly or desperately or angrily or fearfully she is always externally focused on assessing her needs of the moment. There are only two exceptions to this. The first is the very opening scene of the film in which she is introspective and her performance is internally focused. The second occurs at the end of the first crisis she confronts on her mission to France when things go very badly for Charlotte Gray in a French café. In total a maximum 45 seconds (approx.) of introversion in a two-hour movie in which she appears in most scenes.

From CATE BLANCHETT, a beautifully balanced performance in this earnest film and a perfect example of the value of an externally active focus for the actor.

June 2002

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