If you know less after a film than you did before, that’s actually a huge compliment. Because art is meant to startle you, to plant questions in your head and trigger new thoughts. That’s why it’s great, fun and important. Blue Jasmine managed to do precisely this to me. The latest Woody Allen film made me think about things I hadn’t thought about in a long time and reigned the conversation after…
I was long awaiting Blue Jasmine and finally saw it last week. Sally Hawkins and Cate Blanchett play two sisters that could not be more different from each other. Jasmine (Blanchett) used to be New York Upper Class before her husband was arrested and lost every dime. Ginger (Hawkins) lives in a poor part of San Francisco with her two kids and is dating a handyman. But the two don’t just differ due to the size of their wallets, but apparently have been given entirely different values from their adoptive parents as well. While Ginger is quite satisfied with her life, Jasmine believes she just isn’t trying hard enough and drags her along to parties where she could potentially find a better (a.k.a. millionaire) match. Although Jasmine is only hanging on to sanity by a thread she manages to look perfectly posh at all times, is perfectly aware of the high society codes and meets her next rich mate immediately while secretly chucking down vodka of course.
All in all it’s a pretty typical Woody Allen piece. Societal classes clash, there’s plenty of talking and we leave the cinema reformed.
Thanks to my charming companion I was able to almost crawl into a terrific Cate Blanchett’s nose, but hey can you ever be too close to the screen if a world class actress gives it her all? Although Jasmine is clearly going mad one really feels for her and despite her wrong doings you cannot really be mad at her.
How much is in your genes and how much shape do you get from your upbringing and education? How are happiness and money connected? Are some marriages really only built on wealth? And can your very own guilt make you go insane?
Those were the questions I had to discuss over a drink after the film. Although they sound heavy, Woody Allen placed them playfully and Blue Jasmine is most definitely worth watching.