Cate Blanchett hits back at Tar sexism claims

Cate Blanchett has hit back at suggestions that 'Tar' is "anti-woman".

The 53-year-old star won a Golden Globe award this week for her portrayal of the fictional orchestra conductor Lydia Tar but conductor Marin Alsop slammed the movie amid suggestions that the main character was inspired by her.

'Tar' follows Blanchett's alter ego at the height of her successful career before accusations about her behaviour surface and destroy all she has worked for.

Alsop said: "I was offended as a woman, I was offended as a conductor, I was offended as a lesbian.

"There are so many men – actual, documented men – this film could have been based on but, instead, it puts a woman in the role but gives her all the attributes of those men. That feels anti-woman."

Cate has the "utmost respect" for Alsop but claims that the character's circumstances are merely coincidental.

'The Aviator' star said: "What (director Todd Field) and I wanted to do was to create a really lively conversation. So there's no right or wrong responses to works of art.

"It's not a film about conducting, and I think that the circumstances of the character are entirely fictitious. I looked at so many different conductors, but I also looked at novelists and visual artists and musicians of all stripes. It's a very non-literal film."

Blanchett stressed that the conductor is "entitled to her opinion" but defended the movie against claims of sexism.

The Oscar-winner said: "She's entitled to her opinion, absolutely. But it's a meditation on power and power is genderless. It is a meditation on power and the corrupting nature of power and I think that that doesn't necessarily happen only in cultural circles.

"I mean, she could just as well have been a master architect or the head of a major banking corporation."