I have love/hate relationship with Woody Allen. I think most of his films are over hyped and pretentious and I’m not terribly fond of him personally. He also grinds out film after film, most of which I find forgettable. However, sprinkled among his huge body of work, he does produce fantastic and even inspired works. Films like ‘Vicky Christina Barcelona’ and ‘Midnight in Paris’ are truly great works of art and make up for self indulgent films like ‘To Rome with Love’. His latest film, ‘Blue Jasmine’ is one of his great films and I’m going to predict that Cate Blanchett will receive an Oscar nomination for this powerful performance of a fallen New York socialite. Her portrayal is both sad and comic, which is not an easy feat to do, but Cate Blanchett takes us through all her emotions one by one and sometimes simultaneously. Woody is even able to pull out a credible performance from Andrew Dice Clay. Anyone who has the ability to do that deserves respect.
The film opens with Jasmine, a once wealthy socialite, flying to San Francisco to ‘temporarily’ move in with her blue collar sister while she struggles to find a foothold after her husband (Alec Baldwin) was convicted of fraud and promptly killed himself. The government seized all her assets and now, the Park Avenue socialite, finds herself with no money or friends. Somehow still flying first class, Jasmine rambles on and on about her troubles to a nodding elderly woman. Despite the tragedy, Jasmine clings to hope and reveals all her life details to anyone who will listen. Even to herself if no one is around. She desperately tries to cling to a lifestyle that doesn’t exist anymore. Cate Blanchett strikes just the right balance between snobbish and sympathetic. Ginger (Sally Hawkins), her working class sister takes Jasmine into her single mother apartment and you can feel Jasmine’s revulsion at how her sister lives despite saying the required mannered compliments of her ‘homey’ space. Andrew Dice Clay and Bobby Cannavale play Ginger’s ex-husband Auggie and current boyfriend Chili respectively. They are in perfect comic form as the antithesis of everything that Jasmine find appealing in men. Crude, low class, and rough yet despite their good hearts you can sense Jasmine’s unease in their presence.
Of course, despite being medicated with Xanax and a myriad of other forms of socialite medication, Jasmine must determine a course for her life. Despite her forced optimism, you can sense her life is unraveling. Jasmine’s present state of mind is better understood as the film weaves in flashbacks from her previous life and the events that led up to where she finds herself now. She lived in a cocoon of denial as she instinctively understood that her husband was crooked, but actively tried not to know, in order to preserve her idyllic life. Her life was a house of cards, but one for which she was suited. You can feel her misery as she enters a work force for which she is ill suited for by temperament alone.
Woody is able to find comedy in this tragedy, but never from a mocking point of view. Just the contrary, you can feel the great sympathy evoked from this character, especially in scenes involving her estranged son. Even the side story of Ginger’s infidelities shows that not all is perfect in her life either. Woody shows that everyone has problems, but some are just able to deal with them better than others. Andrew Dice Clay and Vinnie Cannavale play obnoxious louts Auggie and Chili perfectly, but at the same time you love them for it. Their very existence offends Jasmine. The scene where Chili asks Jasmine if she would like to go out with his 5’4” mechanic buddy was one of the movie’s priceless comedic moments. I don’t want to leave out Alec Baldwin’s small role either as Jasmine’s deceased husband. Baldwin really doesn’t get the credit he deserves as an actor. He plays the super rich hustler husband perfectly. His eternal and relentless drive causes him to fool even himself as the authorities close in on his crumbling empire.
It’s hard to see the disintegration of someone’s life as a comedic movie and I would be doing a disservice to this film if I labeled it a comedy. This is a portrait of a woman that is both comedic and tragic. An examination of a modern riches to rags fable reminiscent of Bernie Maddoff’s ex-wife. This is the best performance of Cate Blanchett’s already impressive body of work. It’s still too early to say this, but I do hope she gets the Oscar for this role.
I give this film **** stars
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