Blue Jasmine (2013)

Rating: 4.5/5

Perhaps one of the most renowned and tense dramas of the last century, Tennessee Williams' tormented stageplay 'A Streetcar Named Desire' has inspired copious theatre productions and film adaptations, the biggest and best starring Vivien Leigh and Marlon Brando. And now, almost 70 years after the story was written, it has been given a modern twist, and shot through the eyes of Woody Allen. It is unclear whether 'Blue Jasmine' is intended as an adaptation of 'Streetcar,' or whether it just inspired the idea, but various critics have noted the similarities, and they leapt out at me throughout. For anybody not familiar with Williams' play, it sees shamed, formerly-rich teacher and socialite Blanche DuBois move in with her now working-class sister Stella and her 'whelp of a Polack' husband Stanley Kowalski in New Orleans. Blanche has a traumatic past, which is revealed in time, and is evident throughout from her manic behaviour, but Stanley knows the Napoleonic Code, and exercises his rights as a husband to investigate what really happened to the DuBois fortune, and why Blanche is really there. The plot structure, characters and form are the same, except presented in Allen's darkly humorous fashion.

The firey Cate Blanchett stars in the Blanche role of Jasmine. The movie opens with Jasmine sat on a plane, chatting to an elderly woman next to her. She 'babbles' on and on, about every personal detail of her life, about how good a lover her former husband was, about the cocktails of anti-depressants she has been put on, and about how "the only cocktail that works is Martini." We assume from her intimate and open manner that the woman is travelling with her, but at the baggage carousel, the women makes a quick exit, with Jasmine still wanting to take her out to lunch sometime. Her luggage, of course, is Louis Vuitton, as she emphasizes several times, and she is dolled up like a celebrity on a day off. When she turns up at her sister's home, she looks as if she daren't touch anything for fear of disease. In a deeper-voiced parallel to the opening scenes of 'Streetcar,' Jasmine sniffs out her sister's booze like a pro, and is not shy in helping herself, while she tearfully rambles about the Government taking everything, and being in deep debt. But how could Jasmine fly first-class when she is broke, and had to sell all her worldly goods? "Iiiiiiii dooonn't knooooww," she retorts, as if pleading ignorance will close the case. Sister Ginger (the lovely Sally Hawkins) is quietly dissatisfied with Jasmine's vagueness about her situation, but in typical Stella-fashion, she defends her scatty sibling.

The story is told in a series of scenes that flash back and forth in time. We see Jasmine's current situation, and we see her former life, where she lived in luxury with her husband Hal (Alec Guinness) and partied the days and nights away. She was carefree, and being detached from Hal's 'business,' was ignorant to what was going on around her. "I sign anything, I'm very trusting," she comments at one point, while we periodically notice her husband shoving papers into her hands to be signed. There is present-time talk of Hal having been a 'crook' and lost everything, before hanging himself in jail. Her past is ambiguous, with lots of fishy things going on, all of which are revealed over the plot's development.

The main difference between 'Blue Jasmine' and 'A Streetcar Named Desire' is the overall tone of the piece. 'Streetcar' is a dark, chilling and ultimately depressing experience about scandal, family secrets and primitive aggression. Allen has taken the components of its story, and told it through a slightly lighter channel. The performances, particularly by Blanchett, are very dramatic and perfectly delivered, but humour is scattered where appropriate and realistic. One especially funny scene features Jasmine on a date at a cafe with Ginger, her boyfriend Chili and his friend Eddie, in which the fellas innocently enough try to find out a little more about Jasmine and her life. The conversation (with little input from Jasmine) turns to food, with Eddie eventually claiming, "Get a bad clam...you'll wish you were never born!"

Allen's writing is, as usual, witty and realistic, with actors talking over each other occasionally, as is natural. Jasmine, however unlikable she essentially is, is a very enjoyable character, providing unwitting humour alongside tense drama and delivery. This really is a very enjoyable film overall, for anybody with a taste for sophisticated or humanistic drama. It also features some of the best performances of the year. I expect Blanchett will be on the receiving end of many awards.