Blue Jasmine
Charlie Greene
As a huge Woody Allen fan, I came to Blue Jasmine with a lot of excitement, and left feeling disappointed. While he captured the incredibly beautiful scenery of San Francisco and New York, I didn’t care about any of the characters, especially the main one, Jasmine. In fact, she may be the most unlikable character I’ve ever seen in a Woody Allen film. Worse than her self-destructive behavior, her self-delusion and snobbery was intolerable to watch. Feeling so smugly superior to everyone around her, she has no qualms about lying to her boyfriend about her past, expecting to regain her wealth and social standing. Of course, Allen’s made other movies with morally ambiguous characters, even a few who get away with murder, and I’ve enjoyed watching those characters. Deconstructing Harry springs to mind. What’s the difference?
The title character in Harry was a wreck of a human being, making extremely poor choices and suffering the consequences. But in the film, he was a talented writer who literally brought the characters in his stories to life. He was also, to some extent, aware of his failings. He was a loser, but there was an endearing quality to him that, if it didn’t make me entirely like him, I at least felt some sympathy towards him. Plus, Woody Allen is a wonderfully gifted comic actor, and watching him go through these crises of his own making, with such wit, makes me laugh every time I watch it.
Jasmine had no such endearing qualities to her. The only gift she possessed was for self-deception. She had no insight into her problems, and never grew over the course of the story. Her only change was to become worse off than when she started. In some way, my passionate dislike of Jasmine is a testament to Cate Blanchett’s acting ability. In fact, until I spoke with other friends who had seen the film, I had no idea Blanchett was in it. Her ability to completely submerge herself into such an unlikable character is a true testament to her talents.
Still, Blue Jasmine let me down. Woody Allen’s made many films over the course of his more than 50 year career. Many of them, like Hannah and Her Sisters, Mighty Aphrodite, and Annie Hall, are wonderfully creative, funny, and touching. In so many of his films, he tries out new approaches to telling stories, and many times, they work brilliantly. Blue Jasmine, sadly, doesn’t. It seemed to lack Allen’s usual spark or inventive qualities. It felt like a tired film that any other director could have made. Maybe it’s unfair to come to one of his films with such high expectations. He’s certainly made other films that, for whatever reason, didn’t quite work. So I have no doubt that his next film (or the one after that) will be the usual Woody Allen success.
Charles Green is a freelance writer and editor based in Annapolis. His book reviews appear in several publications, including Publishers Weekly.
