Friday, January 24, 2014

Best Actress 2013: Cate Blanchett in Blue Jasmine



Cate Blanchett received her 6th Oscar nomination for playing Jeanette "Jasmine" Francis in Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine.

Sometimes, there's  a performance that seems to be all locked up for the Oscar before any of the awards season starts. Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight, Monique in Precious, and Christopher Plummer in Beginners come to mind.  This year, it look's like it's Cate Blanchett, who has been able to stay buzzed about all season long, not to mention winning  nearly all the critics awards, the Golden Globe, and the SAG for her performance in Blue Jasmine. She's made sure Sandra Bullock  nor anyone else was able to put a wrench in her awards sweep  and unless someone gets a late surge (Even if someone else wins the BAFTA), expect her to win on Oscar night.

Blue Jasmine was a film I did not like when I first saw it. I usually love Woody Allen, but some of his newer pieces have been disappointing and although I thought this was well made and well acted, I couldn't care about or like any of the character's in it. On a rewatch, my opinions changed. I don't think it's a masterpiece or one of Woody's best, but it is still an  entertaining and interesting piece with excellent acting. It's about a woman named Jasmine (Blanchett) whose husband was arrested by the FBI  for banking fraud (This scenario is based off real life Bernie Madoff)and killed himself in jail  shortly after.  Jasmine, left broke and desperate, goes to live with her sister (Sally Hawkins) in San Francisco, who is a recently divorced mother of two who can't get her romantic life under control.  The film follows Jasimine's attempts to try to create a new life for herself and also flashes back to Jasmine's days as a rich, wealthy woman.

Blanchett plays Jasmine with the perfect amount of snobishness and shallowness. Jasmine is a very  selfish   woman who puts on airs about her wealth constantly in order to feel good about herself again and Blanchett plays all of these moments very well.   You can tell that she understands the character perfectly and knows exactly how to execute it.  This might seem  like a calculated performance, but Blanchett makes it all work.

Jasmine is a mess of a character though, and Blanchett wonderfully lets us see her darker, more disturbed side when Jasmine is close to breaking down.  These scenes are deliciously funny to watch, yet also incredibly depressing as well as awkward, and Blanchett plays it all perfectly. She  makes us feel for Jasmine by showing  us glimpses of Jasmine's sadness and anger at her life turning out the way it has. Mind you, I never liked Jasmine, but one can't help but feel sorry for her and her terrible situation.  Her flashback scenes are quite  brilliantly played by her as well: We see Jasmine much more confident, in her element among the rich, glamourous world of New York and we see her selfishness in a different way then how we see it in the beginning. Blanchett also shows us that Jasmine loves her husband very much and has powerful anger at him for the way he is treating her. It's a side of Jasmine that is particularly  interesting, given she is often not assertive an  character in most of her scenes, and Blanchett handles this superbly.  Her chemistry with Sally Hawkins is also terrific: We don't know much about their background, but the two actresses work extremely well together to create a strong relationship between them.  I'm listening to some interviews with her right now, and she talks about working with the tone of Allen's films. Blanchett sets the tone and blends in with the tone of this film wonderfully.

It's a terrific, brilliantly executed performance, but I don't find her to be amazing here. As good as she is and as perfectly as she fits the part (Who else can you picture as Jasmine?), I didn't find that the role was particularly challenging for her, nor did it blow me away. Never the less, Blanchett gives a marvelous performance full of rich  layers  that is extremely effective and carries the film wonderfully. She gets



5 comments:

dinasztie said...

OK, I'm not revealing anything, except for the fact that I'm kind of stunned that Amy Adams is going to beat Sandra Bullock and Cate Blanchett in your ranking. And you really seem to be that fond of Meryl, which could mean that either Cate or Sandy will be fourth and I don't really like that. :D But it's your ranking so... ;)

joe burns said...

Well, we"ll see...

Louis Morgan said...

Thought she was very good and would easily be number 2 choice, although still need to see Dench.

moviefilm said...

I actually didn't think the chemistry was so perfect, but you already know that from my review.
But her character really is a mess. More about my thoughts soon on my blog... :)

joe burns said...

Well, we don't agree, but we agree to disagree!

I can't wait to see your thoughts!

You Go Olivia Colman!!!!