Review: Blue Jasmine

Title: Blue Jasmine
Director: Woody Allen
Main actors: Cate Blanchett
Run time: 2013
Rating: 5 stars

Blue Jasmine is produced by Perdido Productions; the movie tells a story about a woman fell from the upper class world to bankruptcy. Cate Blanchett is obviously the highlight of the movie. Blanchett played the main role-Jasmine-in the movie. Woody Allen, as both a writer and a director, has never disappoint his audiences. The Blue Jasmine could be a representative work of Allen; it tells the story behind the vanity and extravagance.

Most of Woody Allen’s movie could be seen as drama films, and no exception on Blue Jasmine. The drama film usually has a story, and characters with rich personalities. The story doesn’t have to have an ending, it could be open-ended; but it will reveal some issue in the reality world. Blue Jasmine’s background is set in New York, a metropolitan area. The story happened in New York makes people imagine, and the story happened in New York’s upper class makes people curious. Allen is good at depicting the life of upper class people. For example, in Scoop, he filmed a nobility in Britain; in the Match Point, he showed the favor of British upper class of tennis. So, why upper class? In Allen’s movie, it is hard to find an absolute judgment on wealth and poverty. In Blue Jasmine, Allen showed Jasmine’s luxury life as a New York celebrity; he also depicted her failed marriage with her husband Hal. In this way, Allen makes Jasmine become alive.

However, Allen didn’t let Jasmine stay New York’s upper class. He let her fell into poverty and moved to live with her sister Ginger. The huge difference of life is another surprise that Allen gave to the audience. He blows a bubble full of money and dream, but he simply pricked it with a needle named reality. The point is Allen let Jasmine prick the bubble, not others. He also makes Jasmine have another side. After Jasmine found her Hal derailed, she called the FBI to reveal Hal’s commercial fraud and it caused the bankruptcy to her. Allen created a woman who desired love but couldn’t achieve, and when she found the truth, she would do anything to destroy her husband, even if they will perish together. The extreme of Jasmine also brought her the endless suffering. Jasmine kept memorize about her luxury life in New York after she lived with Ginger. Like Ginger’s ex-husband Augie said “Some people just can’t simply let the past go.” The insistence and the hopelessness of Jasmine made her even more vivid to the audiences.

Jasmine’s sister Ginger is another important character in the movie, she also impacted Jasmine in some way. Allen filmed Ginger as a poor but vainglorious woman, who got a divorce. This could be suggested from the clothes. Jasmine always wears Chanel and carries a Birkin bag from Hermes, even if she is out of dollars. Ginger, as an ordinary woman, works in a grocery store, and wears clothes from retail store. The difference between the two woman is a hard barrier to get through. At the very end, Ginger quarreled with Jasmine, which draws Jasmine to leave. Apparently, Allen is good at creating conflicts between characters. The characters could never end the conflicts, by doing this, Allen is showing their life during the conflicts. Some of their thoughts are said during the quarrel. For example, Jasmine said to Ginger that “You always dated those losers, because you think you only deserve that, but that’s why you can never live a better life!” It suddenly reveals Jasmine despised Ginger for all the time, which reinforces Jasmine’s desire to live back the life she had.

To me, Allen’s script is the best. Blue Jasmine used flashbacks in the narration to show Jasmine’s past. When it gets back to the reality, it will always let me sober a little. The contrast between reality and the past makes the script and shows two sides on Jasmine’s life. Allen’s description on the life of celebrities and the life of those in poverty is fancy and authentic. Blue refers to being sad, so it is a proper description to the characters. Jasmine, doesn’t only mean the character, but also refers to the meaning of the flower. The meaning of jasmine is purity, love, and friendship. Jasmine’s love to Hal, Jasmine’s insistence in her past, and Jasmine’s conflict with Ginger, all of them made the plot incredible. The movie is worth watching, as it will tell the audience to cherish the present and cherish the people surrounded.