Blanchett becomes spiderwoman
She is venomous, eats her partner after sex and weaves a tangled web. With such a reputation, it is little wonder the redback spider has inspired two of Australia’s greatest artists – Cate Blanchett and Del Kathryn Barton – to create a short film that will premiere at the 2017 Adelaide Festival.
RED is billed as a surreal, savage tale of female power inspired by the mating rituals of the redback spider, which stars Blanchett, actor Alex Russell and the Sydney Dance Company’s Charmene Yap.
‘‘In essence, the narrative in RED illuminates the unusual mating rituals of the Australian redback spider,’’ Barton said.
‘‘Here, our brave little male after copulating with the monumental female gently somersaults into her mouth, offering himself as a meal postcoital.
‘‘If she is not hungry she will store his bound, dying body on her web for later consumption.’’
In a Q&A with the gallery, Barton said the mating habits evoked what she described as ‘‘the poetics of female power as an inherent and indeed, elemental force in the universe’’.
‘‘By intercutting human protagonists with extraordinary macro footage, RED has evolved into what I now consider to be an uncompromising celebration of female power.’’
The dual-screen work delves into themes of passion, sex and death, drawing on the symbolism of the female redback spider.
Barton’s portrait of Blanchett and her children, Mother (a portrait of Cate), was a finalist in the 2011 Archibald Prize. Barton won the prize in 2008 with a selfportrait representing herself with her children.
Blanchett, a two-time Academy Award winner, can be seen in German artist Julian Rosefeldt’s art film Manifesto at the Art Gallery of NSW.
The versatile actor will also make her
"Her energy exploded off the monitor. We were all blown away ... At that point I knew that the stakes on RED had just gone to another level." Del Kathryn Barton
Broadway debut in December in the Sydney Theatre Company production The Present.
The show is Andrew Upton’s adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s Platonov, which also stars Richard Roxburgh.
Barton said she screamed out loud when Blanchett agreed to appear in the short film.
‘‘On shoot day, she nailed the long cutting performance on the first take,’’ she said.
‘‘Her energy exploded off the monitor. We were all blown away.
‘‘Cate is mother. At that point I knew that the stakes on RED had just gone to another level.
‘‘I was actually s....... myself just a little bit.’’
Barton embarked on the film after winning a $50,000 creative fellowship from the Australian Film Television and Radio School in 2015.
A two-time Archibald Prize winner, Barton’s art often examines fertility and the psychology of relationships.
Her previous films include the human dress (2012) and last year’s The Nightingale and the Rose.
The short film will be screened at the Art Gallery of South Australia and become part of the gallery’s collection.
Gallery director Nick Mitzevich said the short film would take Barton’s ‘‘career to a new level and to new audiences’’.