Review: Blue Jasmine

Cate Blanchett stars as Jasmine, who despite claiming to be broke, flies first class from New York to San Francisco to stay with her working class adopted sister Ginger (Sally Hawkins). Ginger’s current squeeze Bobby Cannavale isn’t too happy about this living arrangement, and the snooty Jasmine certainly doesn’t approve of the rather boorish, but well-meaning mechanic. She also looked down on Ginger’s previous handyman hubby, Augie (Andrew ‘Dice’ Clay, boorish and not terribly well-meaning), and seems all-round ungrateful to be put up for a while by her sister. We learn through flashbacks that Jasmine was married to a scheming and outrageously womanising con-man venture capitalist (Alec Baldwin). Her current living arrangements with Ginger are a result of that situation completely blowing up, and Baldwin committing suicide (Augie, by the way, also got screwed over by Baldwin). Now Jasmine is starting all over again from the bottom, and for someone used to an affluent lifestyle, let alone someone who thumbs her nose at anyone below that social class, it’s not going to be easy. So when a rich diplomat walks into Jasmine’s life, she doesn’t exactly give him a detailed description of her current financial situation.

Meanwhile, the past continues to haunt Jasmine, who has never quite put it behind her. She’s on meds and occasionally seems to talk to herself. Max Casella plays one of Cannavale’s buddies, and Louis CK plays a nice guy sound engineer who may be a better choice for Ginger than Cannavale.

 

Y’know, just once I’d like to see Woody Allen fuck with us and use a Comic Sans font over the credits. Am I the only one?

 

One of the more popular films writer-director Woody Allen (whose best films are “Annie Hall”, “Manhattan”, and “Deconstructing Harry”) has made in recent years, this 2013 film looked to me like it was going to be a neurotic chore. The ads made it look like it was going to be a lot of Cate Blanchett and the hideous English actress Sally Hawkins yelling at each other in shrill histrionics for two hours. Thankfully, that’s hardly the case at all. In fact it’s a really solid film, very well-written and acted by everyone, even by Hawkins, who is at least palatable in this.

 

It’s also the least misogynistic film Woody has made in a long time, the men are mostly pigs or losers. There’s also no real Woody surrogate in this one, so if that’s something which grates on you, there’s no need to worry about that. In fact, the title character played by an Oscar-winning Cate Blanchett is one of the best-written of Woody’s career. Ostensibly a self-absorbed socialite on a downward turn (something Blanchett could play in her sleep), she’s a bit more than meets the eye, which helps keep the audience from frankly detesting her. I mean, this is a woman who claims to have no money, yet she still flies first class. One must keep up appearances, I suppose…even when you supposedly don’t have the money to do even appear affluent. She’s a self-absorbed, ungrateful and dismissive snob, but you can’t quite get around to hating her, even when she single-handedly fucks up a good thing through her stubborn refusal to admit her shortcomings. She’s on meds and clearly troubled, but no mere one-dimensional neurotic Woody substitute, either. That would be unendurable. She’s been wonderfully well-written by Allen, and perfectly acted by Blanchett, even if she likely earned this Best Actress Oscar predominantly because Gwyneth Paltrow stole her first one that she really deserved in 1998.

 

But as I say, there’s more to Jasmine, only slowly revealed in the film. She’s clearly a troubled woman barely keeping it together, despite her snooty upper-class artifice, and whether she’s likeable or not, most of the men in the film are no better, possibly even worse. So Allen’s not getting all of his misogynistic jollies out of this one character. Allen has given the versatile Blanchett one helluva showcase and the actress doesn’t disappoint. It’s an excellent performance. Some have said that Jasmine is basically Blanche DuBois in Woody’s reworking of “A Streetcar Named Desire” (a role Blanchett played on stage in 2009), but I think that’s far too simplistic. Yes, there’s elements of that in the film, but the Stanley character has clearly been split in two and neither of those two have much to do with Jasmine/Blanche, so the resemblance is mostly lost on me. It may not be entirely original, but it’s no remake of “Streetcar”.

 

The rest of the cast are an interesting bunch, too, if not quite on Blanchett’s performance level. As I’ve said, I loathe Sally Hawkins, she seems to play every character as a whiny, cockney, lower-class irritant. Here transplanted to the US, she plays the American version of her usual persona and it’s surprisingly a lot less irritating. I’m not sure if that ultimately says more about my tastes or about Hawkins, but I certainly can’t say she’s miscast or bad in the role here. Alec Baldwin is only seen in flashbacks (that, although not telegraphed, aren’t confusing either), but as was the case in “To Rome with Love”, he’s in fine form as an unscrupulous bastard. ***** SPOILER WARNING ***** Meanwhile, it’s kinda interesting that Peter Sarsgaard essentially plays the only semi ‘nice’ guy in the film or at least the right socioeconomic match for Jasmine’s accustomed way of living, and because she is dishonest with him, she messes up her one chance at potential happiness (and back up the social ladder) with him all on her own. And Woody doesn’t let her fall softly, either. ***** END SPOILER WARNING ***** Don’t get me wrong, the characters played by Bobby Cannavale, Andrew ‘Dice’ Clay, Max Casella, and especially Louis CK aren’t one-dimensional, hissable villains, not at all. In fact, CK has a laidback, quite likeable quality to him (at least until we learn more about him), even if I’ve never found the guy remotely funny. It was nice of Woody to throw veteran foul-mouthed stand-up comedian Andrew ‘Dice’ Clay a bone here, and he’s actually perfectly cast as a boorish lout, but one who may have good reasons for not liking Jasmine. He’s not the first name you’d associate with a Woody Allen film, but he fits in and is a good match for Hawkins. They both scream ‘trailer trash’. The only problem with Bobby Cannavale’s performance here is that it seems to be the same well-meaning oaf that he plays every single damn time. Well-cast and a good performance, but you’ve seen him to it plenty of times before. It was a nice surprise to see former “Doogie Howser MD” co-star Max Casella in this, and playing a well-meaning moron whom Jasmine has unsubtle contempt for, he seems to be channelling Joe Pesci playing Super Mario. Look at the film and tell me I’m wrong!

 

The film has been quite nicely, and thankfully steadily shot by cinematographer Javier Aguirresarobe (who did great work on “The Road” and appalling work on the “Fright Night” remake) as well, and it’s interesting to find that Jasmine has fled New York for San Francisco, as New York used to be Allen’s city of choice. This is actually, at the end of the day a very sad and bitter film, though with occasional moments of dark comedy. The ending in particular is quite sad. You may not like Jasmine by the end of the film any more than you did at the start, but you’ll likely understand and pity her.

 

It’s a solid and interesting film from the uneven Allen, one of his better ones in recent times for sure (certainly better than “Midnight in Paris” and “You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger”), and a great showcase for Cate Blanchett.

 

Rating: B-