Speaking of her new role in Carol – in which Cate Blanchett plays a woman in a same-sex relationship – the actress said it was frustrating because many people expect their own relationships to be represented.

Talking to The Guardian, she said

The problem is that when you represent a character in a same-sex relationship, it’s like you have to represent them all.

You become a spokesperson, which really isn’t the point. When the time comes that we have a diversity of same-sex couples in film, then the problem is solved, I don’t have to stand for everyone.”

In the film, Blanchett’s character, an older woman in 1950s New York, has an affair with a younger woman, who is played by Rooney Mara.

The Highsmith novel, also published under the name The Price of Salt, was ground-breaking in its portrayal of a romance between two women.

At a time when most lesbian love stories were resigned to pulp fiction with doomed characters, the characters in this novel are given a realistic relationship and a chance at a happy ending.

One her character, Blanchett added;

I read a lot of girl-on-girl books from the period. I think there are a lot of people that exist like [Carol] who don’t feel the need to shout things from the rafters.”

Blanchett recently said she was misquoted when it was widely reported she had said she had had sexual relationships with women.

Carol opens in cinemas on Nov 27.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4z7Px68ywk