Blue Jasmine (2013)

One reviewer wrote, and I concur, "If you want to see this year's master class in screen acting, you need to watch Cate Blanchett's mesmerizing performance as Jasmine French, a delusional Park Avenue socialite wife in Woody Allen's 45th directorial effort, a sly, bi-coastal update of Tennessee Williams' classic, A Streetcar Named Desire".

The movie opens with Jasmine's flight to San Francisco. We see her rapidly talking to a woman seated next to her, completely oblivious of the woman's discomfort. Jasmine
has moved from New York to live with her sister in San Fransico. Jasmine's husband, possibly modeled after Bernard Madoff, has been sent to prison for stock fraud and
has hanged himself in his cell. After having lived a high society life in her marriage, Jasmine is now reduced to poverty and must rely on the generosity of her sister,
Ginger. Early in the film, it is obvious that Jasmine has become unhinged by the destruction of her marriage and her reduced social and economic status, and that she
hardly has the inner resources to deal with the situation adequately. To add more tragedy to the situation, Jasmine is moving in with a sister whose ex-husband was cheated out of all his money by Jasmine's own felonious husband.

Jasmine's beauty only adds to her descent into madness as every man she meets tries to seduce or rape her. She is also disliked by her sister's current boyfriend. Eventually she encounters a diplomat whom she meets at a party and who falls in love with her. She seems to be on the brink of being saved by this man but this chance
of a new bright future is ultimately destroyed by the very ex-brother-in-law whom her husband ruined financially.

I've known actors who have thrown themselves deeply into a role and that commitment to a role takes an emotional toll on them. Watching the wonderfull Cate Blanchettplaying the role of this distraught woman moved me very deeply.

It was also great watching my favorite comics, Andrew Dice Clay and Louis C.K, in dramatic roles, as well as seeing Bobby Cannavale whom I know from BOARDWALK EMPIRE.

Woody Allen does it again. His neurosis produces a masterpiece.

Cast overview, first billed only: Cate Blanchett ... Jasmine Joy Carlin       ... Woman on Plane Richard Conti ... Woman's Husband Glen Caspillo ... Cab Driver Alec Baldwin ... Hal Charlie Tahan ... Young Danny Annie McNamara ... Jasmine's Friend Nora Sally Hawkins ... Ginger Daniel Jenks ... Matthew Max Rutherford ... Johnny Andrew Dice Clay ... Augie Tammy Blanchard ... Jasmine's Friend Jane Kathy Tong       ... Raylene Ted Neustadt ... Hal and Jasmine's Friend Andrew Long       ... Hal and Jasmine's Friend