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THE BLANCHETT: THE HISTORY OF A FAMILY WHO STILL HAS SOME GAS LEFT IN THE TANK
A fervent admirer of the Cannes Film Festival, to which she is invited every year but never attends due to lack of time, being too busy getting your little shoes ready, Patricia is always in a state of trance when the most beautiful event in the world finally arrives.
And this year, the excitement is at its peak, because it's her distant cousin, her very dear cousin, her invaluable cousin, who will be presiding over the Cannes Festival jury. A Cannes Festival that comes on the heels of the Weinstein affair, in the midst of #METOO #TIMESUP, and which has managed to appoint at just the right time a President whose talent seems to know no bounds. While most of us learned of Cate Blanchett's appointment from an AFP dispatch, Patricia found out about it from a mutual uncle they have who lives somewhere near Kaimkillenbun in Australia. This dear uncle, a kangaroo farmer, is the only bridge that still exists between Cate and Patricia, who grew up and lived thousands of miles apart. Yet this link is far from insignificant, as it is with this uncle that Cate takes refuge between film shoots. It is at his house that she will recharge her batteries and forget the vicissitudes of Hollywood life. It was with this uncle that she learned the Noble Art of boxing, trained by the best of marsupials. Patricia, for her part, only went to Kaimkillenbun once, at the age of four, sent by parents who were working too hard and needed someone to take care of little Patricia, who was very excitable at the time. So what could be better than to send her to the most remote part of the world to live with an uncle they hardly knew but who had a reputation for being tough?
After a very long journey for such a little girl, she was met at Brisbane airport and taken to the kingdom of the kangaroos, where she spent the most magical months of her life. Even today, she vividly remembers her first meeting with Cate. Although they didn't share the same mother tongue, or anything else for that matter, they mingled very quickly and became great friends. They set off to explore the north-east of Australia on the back of a kangaroo, while their uncle was unable to look after them.
In retrospect, Patricia will admit that this journey had a huge influence on her creations and her destiny. Above all, the experience brought the two cousins closer together, as they had to face the onslaught of dingoes, Australia's wild dogs, on numerous occasions. Patricia laughs heartily about it today, but thanks to the courage of her illustrious elder, she escaped unharmed and returned to Paris in one piece the following month, stronger than ever.
The distant cousins are still distant today, and although they keep in touch with each other through likes and emoticons, it's mainly through the press that they keep abreast of each other's lives.
If Patricia admires Cate's work and achievements, Cate is equally delighted with those of her dear distant cousin. And if she weren't forced by her agent to wear dark labels on red carpets, Cate would be spreading the word. Something she does as soon as the cameras turn their backs. And that's what's so appealing about Patricia's shoes: they're confidential little jewels that you'll never see on anyone.