Starring: Cate Blanchett, Sally Hawkins, Alec Baldwin
Once a woman of wealth and status, Jeanette "Jasmine" Francis (Blanchett) has lost everything she had following the arrest of white-collar criminal husband, Hal (Baldwin). As a result, Jasmine is forced to move from New York City to San Francisco and live with her working-class sister, Ginger (Hawkins). Having gone through a complete emotional and mental breakdown, Jasmine frequently drinks and binges on prescribed drugs as the class and familial conflict that she partly stirs up, plays out in front of her.
Having already opened to good financial standing and rave reviews in the US, Blue Jasmine is a strong addition to the filmography of the highly prolific Woody Allen. A comic-drama, Allen's style evident here and the humour is played very dry and subtle, almost completely destroying the categorisation of this film as a comedy. The drama is much more to the forefront and Cate Blanchett makes for a remarkable lead as a woman whose life has been turned upside down and then towards substance abuse to the point where you can almost smell the alcohol emanating from her whenever she's on screen the rest of the rather starry cast (this is Woody Allen, after all) give great performances as well whilst the film explores class-relations and the positive and negatives aspects of both extremes of wealth and the cultures that go with them. Blue Jasmine isn't a feel-good comedy or a laugh riot that some might expect from Allen, but it's a rewarding experience given the string acting and performances.
Next time, Kristen Wiig plays a frustrated playwright forced to take custody of her mother in Girl Most Likely.
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