Blue Jasmine (2013)
Certified: 12A
Duration: 98 minutes
Directed by: Woody Allen
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Alec Baldwin, Sally Hawkins, Bobby Cannavale, Louis C.K., Andrew Dice Clay, Peter Sarsgaard, Michael Stuhlbarg, Tammy Blanchard, Max Casella, Alden Ehrenreich, Barbara Garrick, Emily Bergl
KRS release
Cate Blanchett is Jeanette Francis, known also as Jasmine. The former Manhattan socialite was married to Harold “Hal” Francis (Alec Baldwin), a rich wheeler and dealer of a businessman. She was unaware that he had been two-timing her all along with various affairs besides carrying out illegal activities to make money.
He ends up in prison, their son Danny (Alden Ehrenreich) leaves the house and Jasmine is left penniless. She has no choice but to move to her sister Ginger (Sally Hawkins) in San Francisco.
The siblings had been adopted and are very different from each other. Ginger works at a grocery store and is seemingly happy with her no-frills life. She had once been married to Augie (Andrew Dice Clay). The two had won the lottery and were going to start their own business but Hal squandered their money.
Blanchett more than deserved the Academy Award for best actress she received for this role
Now she is dating Chili (Bobby Cannavale), a mechanic. Jasmine, however, does not believe he is good enough for her. Ginger eventually argues with him and starts an affair with Al (Louis C.K.), who works as a sound engineer.
In need of cash, Jasmine starts working as a receptionist for dentist Dr Flicker (Michael Stuhlbarg), while studying to become an interior designer. Meanwhile, she meets Dwight Westlake (Peter Sarsgaard), a wealthy widower who seems up to her standards.
She finally looks happy but her life is based on lying, drinking and a sense of insecurity that will endanger not only her but also her relationships.
Blue Jasmine is a return to form for Woody Allen; it is more akin to his early Manhattan dramas than his recent romantic and comic pictures.
The director’s classic neurosis theme makes a comeback. This film has its moments of laughter but it’s always an uneasy laughter as there is a psychological aspect to this film that is very sharp.
Blanchett more than deserved the Academy Award for best actress she received for this role. Letting herself at the mercy of Allen’s economical mode of directing makes her shine even more.
This is evident from the start when we see her on a flight chatting incessantly to another woman she just met on the plane. One immediately realises that not everything is right with Jasmine. She is on the verge of a nervous breakdown and is still holding together thanks to the power of memories.
The film hides its psychological depth and profoundness with a typical Allen comical coating. Jasmine floats through life as if skating on thin ice, and it is greed for a perfect life that fuels her essence to live.
Hawkins complements Blanchett well as she plays a woman who wants to be happy yet is slowly, but doggedly enough, getting burnt out as she tries to live up to her sister’s expectations.