‘Hopefully some people hate it’: the immersive film about capitalism coming to Melbourne

Rising festival is bringing Julian Rosefeldt’s Euphoria to Australia after its co-artistic director was compelled by it in New York

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A monstrous conductor, an ethereal elf, the Norse goddess of the dead and even Bob Dylan: Cate Blanchett is admired for her ability to step into seemingly any role with ease. But her latest role is undeniably a strange one: a talking tiger stalking an empty supermarket, ruminating on 2,000 years of human greed.

“I said to her, ‘Cate, I only need your voice, but I really need it badly’,” says film-maker Julian Rosefeldt, who previously cast Blanchett in 13 roles in his 2015 film Manifesto, including a homeless man, a newsreader and a teacher. In his new film, Euphoria, she only had to embody a tiger. “If she had tried to be the tiger, it probably would sound funny,” Rosefeldt says. “She feels the tiger, let’s say that. And she did a fantastic job. She’s just so good at what she does.”

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