The Case for Jasmine in Blue

I am not a fan of Sally Hawkins.  I have seen her in a few films, the first (and the one I cringe at) being Happy Go Lucky, in which she played a woman with no problems being abused and beaten and trod upon and who drove me up the wall with her ongoing optimism yet incredible lack of action considering everything that was thrown at her.  Since then, I have seen her in a few other films, and she is a decent actress, I admit, but whenever I view her, I initially cringe in anticipation of another Happy Go Lucky performance. 

I was therefore very distracted when her character in Blue Jasmine, the latest Woody Allen film, met her first abusive relationship with a nervous optimism akin to her Happy Go Lucky character, and that had me on edge for the rest of the film whenever she was on screen.

Luckily, she is not the principal character: sometimes Jasmine is played by the luminous Cate Blanchett, whose American accent I can never quite accept, but who goes through the emotional wringer and back again as a character whose cheating millionaire husband (a sleazy Alec Baldwin channelling a restrained Jack Donaghy) leaves her with no money and only a poor, distant adopted sister to fall back on.  Throughout the film, she recalls the life she had and tries to build a new one for herself that is as close to the high-flying lifestyle she had before.   

This story is a lot more fraught than Allen’s Midnight in Paris, and is a little the less enjoyable for it.  There is humour in some of the quirky characters (I do not associate “quirk” with “men with a predilection for domestic violence” so those scenes disturb me on several levels), and as usual, Allen elicits some great performances in actors as diverse as Andrew Dice Clay, Louis C K and Peter Sarsgard.  Altogether, the product ends up a lot more enjoyable than possibly it has the right to be, considering some of the physical abuse and the way it seems to almost ignore some mental health issues.   

As we left the Lighthouse on Cuba (which is not actually on Cuba), we chatted briefly with the perky and attractive staff who seemed to be high on life or a stimulant, or else were cinema majors or somesuch.  They admitted a lot of people had gone in to Blue Jasmine uncertain about what they were getting themselves into, but came out generally satisfied.  And I have to admit, I walked away thinking I had seen a well-crafted movie, just not one that I completely agreed with.

Verdict: Blue Jasmine has some amazing performances amidst an uncomfortable storyline.  Blanchett is amazing as per usual, and everyone else also brings their A-game (yes, even Hawkins), and they provide a fantastic base on which to build a sold movie.  6.5 jazz songs out of 10.