Woody Allen does it again! The man is amazing! What a genius! Every year he delivers a brand new picture perfect film! How does he do it? GENIUS!!!
Woody Allen gives an entire new meaning to the psychiatric syndrome, Bag-Lady Syndrome, or women’s anxiety about being poor.
FROM HOITY-TOITY, PRETENTIOUS, PARK AVE TROPHY WIFE WITH NO FORMAL DEGREE, TO PARK BENCH PRADA BAG LADY!!!! Even though the story is bittersweet, there are still many laughs to be had!
Woody blends the different sides of the haves and the have nots into an hysterical mix of comedy and tragedy!
Once again, the opening credits start off with 1930′s jazz music playing, similar to so many of his other films in the past, however, THEN , in the opening scene, there is Jasmine (played by Cate Blanchett), a stereotypical, hoity-toity Park Avenue blonde, all glammed up, wearing Madison Avenue’s finest clothes, seated on a plane in first class, rambling to the stranger seated next to her. She tells the older woman all about her past, how she met Hal (her former successful husband), while she was studying anthropology at BU, how he swept her off her feet, and she dropped out before graduating to marry him. As Jasmine is still talking to the woman at the baggage carousel, you notice she is a bit mentally unstable.
The cab driver drives Miss Jasmine from the airport to her adopted sister Ginger's, humble apartment at 305 Van Ness in San Francisco, so she can start a new life, as her old Hamptons style life, as the wife of Hal, a wealthy business tycoon, has quickly been robbed from her. “The government took everything,” she cries out. The film flashes back from scene to scene for the viewer to understand just how the complete Madoff style change of events has come about, and you realize Hal was a phony, sleaze ball, who lived high on the hog, off of other people’s money and had many other women, other than Jasmine. Blinded by the bling of the jewels, Jasmine fails to see clearly.
Meanwhile, Van Ness is not exactly Park Ave, and Ginger’s ex-husband Augie (played by Andrew Dice Clay), and her current boyfriend, Chili, are not exactly Mr. GQ. They are hard working, good guy, blue collar types who were sincerely in love with Ginger, however, classy Jasmine, does not approve, and thinks Ginger can do better.
It is a MUST SEE !!!
Article by Sharon Abella
One World Cinema
1worldcinema.com