When Jasmine French (Cate Blanchett, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey) is at ease, her voice flows like honey; when she able to impress her social status – actual or embellished – upon others, it smooths the gaps in any conversation. When things fail to go Jasmine’s way, an interruption to her relaxed drawl betrays her inner stress, her melodious inflections turning curt and short in an instant. When she is left with nothing, all that remains are small, broken, rasped-out words.
It is in the character’s manner of speaking that Blanchett makes her initial imprint, never over-enunciating in an effort to convey emotion, just always finding the perfect pitch and tone. Make no mistake, everything that comes with the voice – the fidgety demeanour, the pout that can turn into a charming laugh, the slow gaze and steely glare, the proud façade and frazzled reality – reinforce her exceptional performance; it is in each utterance, however small and seemingly insignificant, that Blanchett turns her character into a person – eccentricities, unfulfilled dreams, untruths, unlikeable traits and all.
Jasmine once had everything – the business tycoon husband (Alec Baldwin, TV’s 30 Rock), and the luxurious Park Avenue lifestyle to match; now, in the wake of a Bernie Madoff-like scandal, she reluctantly relies upon the kindness of her adopted sister Ginger (Sally Hawkins, Great Expectations) for a place to stay as sifts through the rubble of her former existence. A new San Francisco-based start is what she says she seeks, but all she really wants is what she had. Working for a dentist (Michael Stuhlbarg, Hitchcock) and dealing with Ginger’s past, present and potential loves (Entourage’s Andrew Dice Clay, Lovelace’s Bobby Cannavale and Louie’s Louis C.K.) proves taxing; only another man of means and substance (Peter Sarsgaard, Robot & Frank) offers any appeal.
In this year’s annual offering to cinemagoers, writer/director Woody Allen allows Jasmine to flit through her personal turmoil, observing the vivid chaos that circles in her wake yet never passing judgement. Frequent juxtapositions – of her pre- and post-breakdown life, and between her unflappable class assurances and Ginger’s accepting struggle – offer their own perception of greed, guilt, morality and the post-global financial crisis American dream, as aptly assembled by the helmer’s long-time editor Alisa Lepselter; however Allen’s concerns, as languidly, sunnily shot by Javier Aguirresarobe (Warm Bodies) in scenes that understand the rhythm and pace of dwindling fortunes, lay with the coping mechanisms of his troubled protagonist.
Far removed from the unsuccessful whimsy of 2012’s To Rome with Love, and the enchanting romance of 2011’s Midnight in Paris, the prolific filmmaker’s first state-side jaunt since 2009’s Whatever Works is deeply – but warmly – embedded in the cycle of winning, wanting, and going without that has characterised the modern economic reality. The ever-contradictory Jasmine experiences all three on her fall from wealthy wife to dishevelled shell of her former self – the excess at the top, the aspiration of attempted reinvention, and the despair and delusion that marks hitting rock bottom. In her arresting portrayal, Blanchett makes the trajectory not only believable, but also palpable.
Though other excellent acting efforts surround Blanchett, with Hawkins, Cannavale, Dice Clay and C.K. particularly astute and purposefully empathetic in their romance-driven subplot, she remains the rightful centre of attention, as Allen’s sharp script intends. In a career filled with stellar turns, Blanchett wears Jasmine’s A Streetcar Named Desire-esque passage through assurance, indignation, agony and hesitant acceptance like a badge of honour. In a film expertly crafted from its comical commencement to its compelling conclusion, as laced with raw revelation in between, she shines brightest in varying shades of imperfections.
Rating: 4 ½ stars out of 5
Blue Jasmine
Director: Woody Allen
USA, 2013, 98 mins
Release date: 12 September
Distributor: Hopscotch
Rated: M
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