30
Jul/13

BLUE JASMINE

30
Jul/13
Jasmine (Cate Blanchett) has to start her life all over again with her sister (Sally Hawkins) in Woody Allen’s latest

Jasmine (Cate Blanchett) has to start her life all over again with her sister (Sally Hawkins) in Woody Allen’s latest

BLUE JASMINE (Woody Allen, 2013)
Opened Friday, July 26
www.sonyclassics.com

Woody Allen’s best film in years, Blue Jasmine is a modern-day Streetcar Named Desire filtered through the Bernie Madoff scandal. Cate Blanchett gives a marvelously nuanced and deeply textured performance as Jasmine French, an elegant socialite whose immensely wealthy husband, Hal (a wonderfully smarmy Alec Baldwin), amassed his fortune the new-fashioned way: by lying and cheating—only he was the rare financier who got caught and ended up in jail. Now broke and distraught, Jasmine moves in with her sister, Ginger (the delightful Sally Hawkins), a single mother with two kids living in a cramped apartment in San Francisco. Ginger and her ex-husband, Augie (an excellent Andrew Dice Clay), lost all their money by investing with Hal, and she is now trying to rebuild her life, working as a cashier and dating the gruff but dedicated Chili (a strong Bobby Cannavale). Not used to taking care of herself, Jasmine seems lost in a world that no longer treats her like a princess; she takes a job working for a dentist (Michael Stuhlbarg) and attends a computer class, but she is determined to regain her previous status. And that chance comes when she meets Dwight (a gentle Peter Sarsgaard), a man with grand plans who just might be the one to lead her back to the level to which she is accustomed.

Sisters Jasmine (Cate Blanchett) and Ginger (Sally Hawkins) go on an awkward double date in San Francisco

Sisters Jasmine (Cate Blanchett) and Ginger (Sally Hawkins) go on an awkward double date in San Francisco

With Blue Jasmine, Allen has written his best screenplay since 1989’s Crimes and Misdemeanors, creating a complex, multilayered narrative that intelligently examines both sides of the financial crisis, as the rich Jasmine loses everything and the lower-middle-class Ginger can’t quite reach the next level. The relationship between the two sisters is bittersweet, evoking Tennessee Williams’s Blanche and Stella, with Jasmine the delusional sibling and Ginger as the much more realistic one, in this case dealing with a pair of Stanley Kowalski-type brutes. The story travels seamlessly back and forth between the past and the present, concentrating on Jasmine’s downward emotional and psychological spiral, which is supremely evident in Suzy Benzinger’s dazzling costume design and the detailed makeup, which focuses particularly on Blanchett’s stunningly emotive eyes. She physically dominates the screen like no previous Allen leading lady, with cinematographer Javier Aguirresarobe (Vicky Cristina Barcelona) making sure she fills the screen again and again. It’s a sensational star turn in a film loaded with superb acting. Blue Jasmine is a joy to watch from beginning to end, a deft commentary from a master back at the very top of his game.

Nominated for three Academy Awards: Best Actress (Cate Blanchett), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Sally Hawkins), and Best Original Screenplay (Woody Allen)