Her latest role in Carol, in which Blanchett plays a 1950s housewife who embarks on a scandalous lesbian affair with a younger woman (Rooney Mara), has come with its own pressures:

"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," she says.

When promoting the film at the Cannes film festival, a media storm was created when Blanchett sarcastically responded to a reporter's question about whether she had had any relationships with women, by saying "yes, many" - referring to her friends and colleagues.

“If I played someone who has an affair, I think a reporter would probably think twice before asking, ‘Ooh, how many affairs have you had?’" she says.

"But there are no holds barred about asking me whether I’ve had relationships with women. And so I facetiously said, ‘Oh yes, I’ve had many relationships with women’ – because frankly, who hasn’t? Of course I said it in inverted commas. But the inverted commas didn’t make the page.”

The actor hopes that, eventually, same-sex relationships on screen are not something we need to 'discuss' they will just happen.

"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.”

Cate Blanchett on feeling socially awkward: “I’m not comfortable, I’m not relaxed. It’s all acting”