“Anxiety, nightmares and a nervous breakdown;
there’s only so many traumas a person can withstand 'til they take to the
streets and start screaming.”
Throughout his lengthy career Woody Allen has possessed a rare gift for balancing
comedy and pathos with an old-school visual style that reflects his perpetual nostalgia.
In the early 2000s critics denounced Allen as past his prime but he
triumphantly returned to peak form with Midnight
in Paris. Riding high on newfound success, he brings us Blue Jasmine, a tale about an upper-class
middle-aged woman in cultural and mental despair. After a recent succession of
light-hearted romantic comedies, Allen takes an unexpected turn to tell a
sharp, yet surprisingly solemn drama about a Park Avenue high
society wife whose world is turned upside down. Blue
Jasmine exhibit’s the old craftsmen’s continuing vitality,
creativity, and uncanny ability to write.
Cate Blanchett plays Jasmine who loses everything
after her husband Hal (Alec Baldwin) is revealed to be a scam artist and serial
adulterer. Despite her pleas of being broke, she flies first class from New York to
San Francisco, talking non-stop to a stranger sitting next to her. Forced to
slum it with her low-income adoptive sister Ginger (Sally Hawkins), she struggles
to build a new life without her husband's illegally-obtained wealth. With little in
common the mismatched pair of sisters barely tolerate each other’s company.
Jasmine disapproves of her sister’s boyfriend Chili (Bobby Cannavale) as she
did her first husband and constantly complains of migraines caused by her
nephews’ incessant rowdiness. Convinced to make something of her new life she
settles for a career in interior design and resolves to take a computer course
so to study decorating online. Upon meeting a cultured, wealthy diplomat (Peter Sarsgaard), she
proceeds to invent a fantastical new past to keep up appearances, one that doesn’t
contain a scamming ex-husband or estranged stepson. One lie after another, she slowly
withdraws from reality down the rabbit hole, washing down her Xanaxes with shots of vodka.
There is a touch of Blanche Dubois from A Street Car
Named Desire in the character of Jasmine, a self-aggrandising woman whose
privileged lifestyle has come to an end and who now relies too heavily on booze
and pills. She finds comfort in jabbering to strangers
and spends much of her time in the film recounting her past experiences living
the high life. Woody Allen uses this to tell a single narrative in two mirrored timelines, cutting back and forth between
past and present.
The tragic anti-heroine figure of Jasmine is one of Allen’s more
vulnerable and complex creations. She possesses no self-awareness or agency and
is borderline unhinged. Cate Blanchett discards all vanity and gives a fearless
performance worthy of any prestigious award that she will inevitably receive at the end of
the year. One reviewer eloquently described the role as ‘the best imaginable marriage of
performer and character’. An exceptional turn by Blanchett benefits from one of
the strongest supporting casts Allen has assembled in years. Sally Hawkins delivers an acutely natural,
flawed but real character in Ginger. Andrew Dice Clay and Bobby Cannavale are
notably realistic in the roles of Augie and Chili respectively.
While the abrupt ending may be better suited to stage than
screen and at times the narrative feels uneven, Blue Jasmine is beguiling, amusing
and clever. Woody Allen’s superb script gives the floor to the
delusional Jasmine and it remains thoroughly entertaining in the hands of Cate
Blanchett, who once again proves she is incapable of giving a bad performance.
Watch the trailer for Blue Jasmine below...
