Emily Blunt: women need to be less judgmental of each other

Emily Blunt, the actor who stars in the film adaptation of The Girl on the Train, has called for greater compassion when it comes to a woman’s choice – or lack thereof – to have a family.

Speaking in London on Wednesday, Blunt, 33, said: “I think we all need to be much kinder to each other, whether you’re a man or a woman.” Expanding on comments given at the world premiere on Tuesday about a potential competitiveness between women, Blunt added:

“There is a tendency in women towards being a bit judgmental of each other, particularly in the domestic environment. Whether you can ‘Keep a man’ – a phrase which I hate – or whether you breastfeed or don’t, whether you want to have children or you don’t, whether you can have children.

“Women are sometimes made to feel to be rather defensive about their decisions,” continued Blunt, “and I don’t think that’s right. Nobody knows the ins and outs of decisions and we can’t be too harsh about them.”

In the film, Blunt plays Rachel, a recently divorced, unemployed alcoholic. The role appealed, she said, because it was so repellent.

“It’s so unusual to have your lead protagonist be female and a blackout drunk,” she said. “Women are often required to be an ideal of some description: pretty or likeable or witty. But with this character you feel you just don’t want to breathe the same air as her. And that sort of toxic persona, physically and mentally, I’d never explored before.”

Rachel’s drinking begins as a response to a failed round of IVF treatment with her then-husband, Tom (Justin Theroux), who is now happily remarried and whose wife (Rebecca Ferguson) has given birth.

Rachel is fixated on the couple and, while travelling home from New York on a commuter train – the action is relocated from the London of the novel – she witnesses disturbing developments in the relationship of Tom’s near neighbours, who are themselves grappling with the possibility of having a child.

Author Paula Hawkins, whose novel has sold over 11m copies since its publication in January 2015, said her starting point had been trying to tackle the impact of infertility, which some of her friends had experienced.

Speaking of all three female lead characters, Hawkins said: “These women are at an age when questions about motherhood are pushed to the fore – by your family, by the media – and incredibly private decisions seem to become public property.”

Blunt, who was three months pregnant with her second daughter at the time of filming, downplayed the challenges she experiences as a working mother, saying she does not envy those who are required to return to work for financial reasons, or whose jobs do not involve the possibility of extended periods of leave.

“My sister is a literary agent,” said Blunt, “and she wakes up to 800-1,000 emails a day, and she has a young boy who’s not even two. And so when she decided to go back to work it was a massive decision. Whereas I [was] rather fortunate.”

Continued Blunt: “I think having children has been wonderful in that it cracks your heart open in so many ways. I’m sure I can access a lot more since becoming a mother as an actor. But truly it makes me very specific about what I choose to do and when I work.”