At the heart of Woody Allen's new film is a rich performance that can be described in so many ways, and yet it almost defies description.
That's how incredibly good Cate Blanchett - who becomes the early favorite in Oscar's best-actress race - is in this movie.
"Blue Jasmine" might closely compare to 2005's "Match Point" in its elements of pure drama, but it might be 1989's "Crimes and Misdemeanors" that most closely resembles the level of tragedy on display here, combined with moments of odd farce that unsettle the audience further, exactly as the filmmaker intends.
Blanchett's performance cannot be compared with anything from Allen's films in recent memory. This is a woman in free-fall, ranging from despair to mental illness. The actress channels the ghost of Blanche du Bois from "A Streetcar Named Desire" and mashes it into the character of a beloved socialite who becomes an overnight pariah.
To watch Jasmine French on the verge of a nervous breakdown is sad and fascinating.
Jasmine is a New York socialite so entrenched in her luxurious lifestyle and narcissism that when her husband, a Bernie Madoff-like financial cheat, goes bust, her only option is to move into her sister's crowded San Francisco apartment with her Louis Vuitton luggage, her emotional baggage and her empty pockets.
I think that Blanchett and Allen are in tune here for a reason: Blanchett has done her homework and knows what the recession's formerly wealthy look like, and the "act" they must put on to portray some semblance of remaining money; Allen knows what it feels like to be at the center of a scandal, to be the butt of jokes and to be treated like a leper.
"Blue Jasmine" starts out on a hopeful note, with Allen detailing in brief, alternating flashbacks Blanchett's charmed life with her husband (Alec Baldwin), living on Fifth Avenue and in the Hamptons, and juxtaposing it with her arriving in the Bay Area at the cluttered home of her sister Ginger (Sally Hawkins).
Several supporting performances stand out: Hawkins gives no hint of a British upbringing, Baldwin is perfectly pompous but not over the top as he is prone to do, and then there's Andrew Dice Clay, the boisterous comedian who is outstanding as a sentimental figure as Ginger's ex-husband, one of many cheated by Jasmine's husband.
Jasmine arrives in California stressed yet figuring out a plan to get back on her feet. Her style is exquisite, and interior design seems like a feasible career move. Surely she can suffer Ginger's loud new boyfriend (Bobby Cannavale) and their blue-collar, beer-commercial existence and friends for a short time.
But Jasmine's initial promise is an illusion. It doesn't take long to realize that this self-absorbed princess has been more than knocked off her throne; she has done her own fair share of suffering.
Not only was Jasmine detached from the financial reality that 99 percent of us face, but also her grasp on real life is tenuous at best.
Whether she's bad-mouthing Ginger's boyfriends ("He's another loser ..."), or batting off the advances of an amorous dentist, or reinventing herself through lies to snag an eligible man too good to be true (Peter Sarsgaard as a political hopeful), Blanchett is as raw as an exposed nerve, barely contained within her head and her Chanel wardrobe.
This leaves the audience on pins and needles waiting for it all to come apart amid her swilling of martinis.
Blanchett brilliantly pulls off the collapse, keeping up appearances through classy style and Hermes Birkin bags before gradually declining. As we notice her top untucked and her hair no longer perfectly coiffed, we see the woman crumble without the armor that has protected her from "other people" and set her apart through privilege - stolen though it was.
And yet we can't help but sympathize with this unsympathetic woman. When she tells Ginger's little boys about electroshock treatment ("Edison's medicine," she enlightens) and begins talking to the flashbacks in her mind, we can forgive some flaws and revel in Blanchett's portrait of a person unraveling.
And we can be grateful for Blanchett finding fear and humor and honesty in the most complex performance of her career, for which a trophy wife might help her take home a trophy.
Michael Smith 918-581-8479
michael.smith@tulsaworld.com
Original Print Headline: Woman on the verge
'BLUE JASMINE'
Cast: Cate Blanchett, Alec Baldwin, Sally Hawkins, Peter Sarsgaard, Bobby Cannavale, Andrew Dice Clay, Louis C.K.
Theaters: Circle Cinema, Cinemark Tulsa, AMC Southroads 20
Running time: 1 hour, 38 minutes
Rated: R (mature thematic material, language and sexual content)
Quality: (on a scale of zero to four stars)
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