Blue Jasmine

BLUE JASMINE (15)

D: Woody Allen

Sony Pictures Classics/Gravier (Letty Aronson, Stephen Tenenbaum & Edward Walson)

USA 🇺🇸 2013

98 mins

Drama

W: Woody Allen

DP: Javier Aguirresarobe

Ed: Alisa Lepselter

Cate Blanchett (Jeanette 'Jasmine' Francis); Sally Hawkins (Ginger), Alec Baldwin (Hal Francis), Peter Sarsgaard (Dwight Westlake), Louis C.K. (Al Munsinger), Bobby Cannavale (Chili), Andrew Dice Clay (Augie), Michael Stuhlbarg (Dr. Flicker)

For me, Woody Allen's movies can be very hit and miss, and with the writer-director making a new film every year (at least since 1982), it's understandable that the quality will fluctuate.

Blue Jasmine is certainly amongst Allen's best films, featuring a brilliant pair of performances from both Cate Blanchett and Sally Hawkins. 

Blanchett plays Jasmine, an entitled socialite who hasn't worked a day in her life, and lived her luxuriant lifestyle out of her husband's pockets. Jasmine moves away from the luxuriant penthouse apartments of Manhattan to her sister Ginger's more modest accommodation on the west coast, where she spares no time getting involved in Ginger's personal life.

The non-linear storyline delves into the past, where it emerges that Jasmine's millionaire husband commit suicide shortly after being sentenced to prison for real estate fraud, which also affected Ginger's marriage to her first husband.

Though Allen's screenplay doesn't quite answer all the issues that it raises, Cate Blanchett gives an excellent portrayal of a deeply troubled woman, who may look complete on the outside but is totally broken within. A performance which was rewarded with an Academy Award for Best Actress.

Sally Hawkins and Woody Allen's screenplay also received well-deserved Oscar nominations.

7/10