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Jan 16, 2016ThinkCentre rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
SPOILER* This is my 1st Woody Allen film, and on a whim, I gave this film a chance to watch. The movie resonates and I can't help but feel empathy towards Cate Blanchett's character, Jasmine French, an emotionally unstable former socialite escaping NY to stay with her adopted sister in SF. Despite this physical extraction and attempts to escape, Jasmine cannot escape who she is as a person and this causes friction and tension in her encounters. The film's depressing once you realize the ending was not a happy one for her and the way it leaves off, it feels incomplete nor finished, and it's meant that way. A part of me wanted at least some sort of reassuring knowledge that she'll eventually be ok and the ending doesn't give you that, and that's what makes this such a memorable film. If you have read or better yet, seen A Streetcar Named Desire starring Marlon Brando and Vivien Leigh, then you can draw parallels or at least the inspiration for the film. I recommend watching A Streetcar and then watching this, then you'd draw the same conclusion. Aside from the great performances and the 'typical character archetypes,' I find it a bit hard to be convinced of Cate Blanchett's portrayal of Jasmine French. Maybe Woody Allen deliberately meant for her character to be 'that' one dimensional. Or maybe Cate Blanchett in real life has this aura and enigma in the way she carries herself that it feels a bit of a stretch to see her portray an emotionally unraveled head in the clouds character with addiction issues and social aspirations of being ensconced in comfort and prestige. Another thing to consider is how 'convenient' the chance encounters occur as a simplified way to get the story lines going. Like the adopted sister's ex-husband running into Jasmine and her fiance outside a jewelry store to pick out engagement rings in SF, and him spouting off about hard times and illuminating unsavoury parts of Jasmine's past that she deliberately lied and shielded from her fiance. Or that her former stepson happens to be residing in Oakland, a district right over from SF, at the same time when they both fled their interconnected pasts in NY. Jasmine does have some witty biting lines such as the “Edison's medicine” reference to her electroshock therapy while in the mental hospital and so forth. A poignant scene where her sister ended up celebrating a reunion with her down and out lower-class boyfriend just screams a A Streetcar. In general, the movie and the storyline could have been more substantial, but I still would highly recommend this move is worth watching, however, controversial Woody Allen is, that's another story altogether.