Review of Blue Jasmine (2013) by Jason T — 02 Jul 2014

This film is far more engaging than it probably should have been. This is a great credit to it's star, Cate Blanchett. She takes a pathetic character who should be totally unlikeable and makes her interesting to watch. I found myself rooting for her because she was so pathetic and in her own world, trapped in the past and unwilling to adapt herself to her new surroundings.

The film starts with Jasmine aboard a plane, droning on to a fellow passenger about her late husband Hal and their recreational pursuits. Naturally, this other passenger can't wait to get away from this self-absorbed individual. Jasmine is on her way to San Francisco, to live with her sister who has offered to take her in. Jasmine's husband had been arrested for some sort of financial wrongdoing which ironically has lost her sister a great deal of money. The rest of the film follows Jasmine adjusting (or lack of adjustment) to a new life of lesser means. Jasmine resists the advances of several men not necessarily because they are not compatible (although they weren't), but because Jasmine views them to be so beneath herself. Finally, she meets an aspiring politician who is immediately smitten with her, and they start an intense relationship. However, the key to their relationship is that Jasmine falls back on her old persona to relate to this man. All if this is intercut with scenes from Jasmine's previous life, where things slowly begin to unravel for her. Ultimately, she reveals herself not to be as oblivious to her husband's dealings as she would have her sister believe, which ties into her fate in the present. The ending is rather hopeless for Jasmine, and this time there is no one to listen to her ramblings. Score: 7.5.