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Blue Jasmine-Review
Wednesday 23rd October 2013 | Lauren
8/10 for Blue Jasmine
In a tiny cinema screen of only five rows and reclining seats (a revelation dear reader), we all settled down to watch Woody Allen’s latest film, Blue Jasmine. There was a thunder storm raging outside, and we’d made ourselves all cosy and comfy, to be entertained by the film legends tale of a former wealthy woman’s complete mental breakdown.
First things first, Blue Jasmine is very, very good. Allen’s more recent films have been criticised for not quite reaching the dizzy heights of his golden era of filmmaking (Annie Hall and Hannah and her Sisters for example) but post Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Allen has been back on top. His time traveling tale Midnight in Paris won him his fourth Oscar, and Blue Jasmine looks set to get him even more nominations.
Lots of reviews have discussed Cate Blanchett’s amazing performance, and it is true that she is absolutely incredible. Her character Jasmine has been forced to move to San Francisco to live with her adopted sister Ginger (Sally Hawkins) after her husband (Alec Baldwin) is arrested for running some sort of Ponzi scheme, and their entire wealth has been seized by the government. Blanchett plays the role of Jasmine to an outstanding degree. Even though she’s not an entirely likable woman (in her former, wealthier life she was even very annoyed at the idea of having to invite her sister to her birthday party), Blanchett ensures that the audience is completely drawn to her, and each time we see her talking to herself on the streets of San Francisco, it’s all we can do not to make her a herbal tea and let her have a lie down.
What makes Allen the excellent writer and director that he is, is that no detail is left unturned, from Jasmine’s smeared make up to the sisters' body language around each other (Ginger is constantly having to defend her life to Jasmine) and we instantly understand their relationship. The script is nearly perfect, not just the dialogue, but Woody Allen perfectly captures the interactions between sisters and their teenage rivalry never really leaves them. Each character is not merely a filler, or a catalyst for the sisters, each has their own story and their own background which entices the audience, the way Jasmine’s stepson dealt with his fathers crimes could easily make a film of its own.
Blue Jasmine isn’t without flaws, surely a sister would know their sister well enough to understand when things are unravelling slightly faster and more dangerously than she would have you believe. But the way the unravelling and the breakdown are played are so perfectly, it is forgiven. It seems so real, it’s almost scary to see how quickly ones grip on reality can suddenly be let go, and you’re left alone tumbling into the abyss. And on that cheery note, go and see Blue Jasmine and I guarantee you won’t regret it.
Lauren Floodgate
