Woody Allen succeeded to grasp the tragic aspect of the character of Jasmine. And Cate Blanchett expressed perfectly this with a great skill. On one hand, Jasmine is a fascinating person because she is handsome, elegant and intelligent; she is a charming company for a wealthy man. On another hand, she is responsible for her own doom because she is the one who denounces her husband to FBI. And why? Because her husband fell in love for another woman. If she were exclusively interested in money and social status, she would have thought twice and would have chosen a lucrative divorce instead of destroying the source of her wealth and welfare. Jasmine has been defined as a narcissistic personality. I agree, but I think not narcissistic enough to put aside the jealousy which caused her misfortune. And this situation make her a tragic character. Blue Jasmine looks like a tale which could be adapted also for children, as an instructive story. The fact that the role of a sophisticated lady has no future, reminds me the choice of Woody Allen for simplicity. Choice that we can see in Midnight in Paris, when Gil dismisses his engagement with the very bourgeois American girl to stay with a girl from Paris who is full of simplicity, life and good taste.
Review of Blue Jasmine
