Blue Jasmine (2013)

Plot of Blue Jasmine: Jasmine arrives at her sister’s modest apartment in San Francisco, evidently in trouble with no money but still having flown first class from New York. She finds that her sister, Ginger, is going out with a man who she herself has called a grease monkey, beneath Jasmine. In flashback we see her living in luxury with Hal, her husband, who has invested Ginger and her husband’s lottery win of $200,00 but loses it all, which has caused the marriage to end. Jasmine has to take a job as a dentist’s receptionist, and goes to night classes to learn computer operations, but is addicted to pills and vodka. In flashback Jasmine finds out that Hal is a serial womaniser, but claims to be in love with a 19 year old au pair. She phones the FBI who arrest him.  Meanwhile in the present she has to abandon the dentist when he attacks her, and Ginger has had sex with a guy she met at a party, so dumps the grease monkey. Jasmine meets a rich widower who wants to marry her, but it is not all over.

Content: No sex or nudity but some talking about it. A  lot of  drinking particularly by Jasmine who also takes pills a lot. In the flashbacks we see Hal and Jasmine living the high life and also clues to Hal’s unfaithfulness. In the present we follow Ginger’s down to earth activities, after her off line activities go wrong she takes Chili back, even though he has appeared to be violent sometimes. It is obvious that Jasmine is gradually going downhill, and her temporary respite is frustrated because she has lied to her romantic prospect, and it all goes wrong when they meet Ginger’s ex-husband, who spills the beans.

A View: This film made money and was well liked. Some Oscar nominations and Cate Blanchett won Best Actress. The characters are wonderfully drawn to the point that my wife and I did not really think that Ginger should have taken Chili back, because he seemed to be a bit violent. I happily watch any Woody Allen film and this one does not disappoint even though it is just a bit different from his usual output. It is not really a comedy, but very watchable so give it a go.

Fun Fact: The costume budget for the film was $35,000 exceeded in value by the Hermès bag carried by Jasmine which was borrowed.