People, by and large, become what they think of themselves.
Written and directed by Woody Allen, Blue Jasmine is about people becoming what they think of themselves.
This film is so Woody Allen. Jasmine (Cate Blanchett) is the socialite New York housewife of Hal (Alec Baldwin), a tycoon with a silver tongue. She has a sister in San Francisco who has fallen out with her construction-worker husband. When Jasmine’s life in New York suddenly collapses, she moves in with her sister in a bourgeois apartment in San Francisco until she can get back on her feet.
Both women are neurotic in their own way. After all, it’s a Woody Allen movie and there have to be some neurotics. They hunt for new husband material and both go about it quite differently.
Sparks fly and each gets to learn major life lessons.
The acting is immaculate. Cate Blanchett plays the hysterical, maniacal Jasmine with such gusto, it seems so real that I forgot I was in a movie and I just wanted to get the hell away from the woman. The role of Hal is perfect for Alec Baldwin.
The movie alternates between the present time when the sisters are trying to get their lives together and the past, when they were both happily into their husbands but alienated from each other. A few times I had difficulty keeping the pace when the scenes switched back and forth in time too quickly.
Other than that, it was a perfect little movie, good for a laugh and good for the soul when I realized that although at times I feel like I have my problems, I have nothing like what those people have to deal with.
The human experience does not stop at poverty or riches, crookery or straightness. The human experience spares nobody.
Go see Blue Jasmine when you are in the mood for a vibrant and brilliant film about wildly dysfunctional people.
Rating: *** 1/2