Blue Jasmine, written and directed by Woody Allen - 9 out of 10

Blue Jasmine, written and directed by Woody Allen
9 out of 10


Blue Jasmine has been acclaimed by the critics and the members of the Academy, Hollywood Foreign Press and other notabilities that vote for various cinematic prizes, awarding it The Oscar, Golden Globe, BAFTA and other trophies, in particular for Cate Blanchett for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role.

Personally, I prefer her in Elizabeth and so many other fundamental roles, even if I admit - how could anyone deny it - that the role of Jasmine presents a real, complicated challenge, seeing as this is a Woman on the Verge of a Serious Breakdown, hard, if not impossible to like, most often, if not always, arrogant, objectionable, mean, self centered, distant, selfish, absurd, vain and more.
When her husband, Hal aka Alec Baldwin in Glengarry Glen Ross form, is arrested for fraud, embezzlement and whatever other crimes he had committed, Jasmine is sent spinning into a vicious spiral of depression causing negativity, which in turn makes her feel even lower.

The heroine has never had a strategy to cope with adversity and trauma, something we all must have, and she had not learned to fail.
In the words of the positive psychology expert, Harvard professor Tal Ben-Shahar, 'learn to fail, or fail to learn'.

Blue Jasmine comes to stay with her sister, Ginger aka Oscar, Golden Globe nominated, phenomenal Sally Hawkins, in San Francisco, all the way from New York.
In the days when the heroine was extravagantly rich, the advice given by her husband caused the bankruptcy of her sister and her spouse.
In the meantime, Ginger is divorced, about to marry Chili aka flamboyant, dazzling Bobby Cannavale.

That is, if Jasmine would not stand in the way, with the label she finds for a man she finds inferior, a lower cast to her aristocratic, refined self...as she mistakenly sees it.
For if the protagonist had been  such a stupendous, angelic creature, why is she in such a jam?

In the words of Charlie aka Jack Nicholson from Prizzi's Honor...

'if he was so fucking smart, how come he is so fucking dead!?'

Blue Jasmine has not been just in the past, she allowed her fortune to transform her into an obnoxious, Trump-like figure, with disregard for what is moral, superficial, infatuated, pretentious and mean.
This is how and what she is even now, in her destitution and this makes it hard to sympathize and eventually makes the movie less fun to watch, I guess.

Instead of showing gratitude to her sister, she keeps scolding her and giving precious indications from the rarefied altitude where she reigns still supreme, a goddess that has been temporarily sent to earth,but who would surely return to Olympus and the past glory.
She drinks way too much, but she is allowed, being the deity that she is and she even takes on Chili for things she does.

On the other hand, it is also true that she had started studying anthropology and then gave it up, has seen the world and she is better read, educated than Chili, who can be nice, but also rather primitive, and his friend who asks:

Anthropologists? The guys who dig up fossils, dinosaurs? He did not use these words, but something similar.

Overall, Blue Jasmine is a very good tragicomedy, but I am not sure if this is among either Cate Blanchett or Woody Allen's best works.