Blue Jasmine @10: Confessions of a Blanchett Agnostic
Thursday, July 27, 2023 at 5:00PM 
It's been ten years this week since Blue Jasmine arrived in theaters, kickstarting one of the most unwavering award sweeps in living memory. After a period where she dedicated most of her attention to the theater, Cate Blanchett returned to big screen leading lady status with Woody Allen's San Francisco-set Madoff-inspired spin on A Streetcar Named Desire. Her Jasmine is a modern Blanche Dubois bedecked in Chanel, a showcase for thespian pyrotechnics so immense nobody can be left indifferent. No wonder so many count the performance as Blanchett's best and one of the top Best Actress winners of the 21st century. I understand and even grasp the grandeur that enchanted Oscar voters, critics, cinephiles everywhere.
And yet, I can't deny a certain skepticism when faced with the achievement itself, finding it highlights many of the issues I often have with Blanchett on screen. Maybe I am a Blanchett agnostic…
Woody Allen's Oscar-nominated original screenplay for Blue Jasmine is full of contradictions, often seeming uncertain of what it wants to say about its characters, social geography, and economic milieu. The very question of madness, so central to its theatrical heart, feels like an enigma with too many answers. Or, perchance to few, the auteur wavering between what's delusion and what's the fancifully-costumed truth of a dipsomaniac. For Blanchett made Blanche by another name, the issues compound to a mountainous height, jagged edges protruding all the way to the top.
Some actors would consider this challenge and then define their work as chisel and sandpaper, smoothing over the hard lines, the sharp projections, until it was all a polished object. Our Australian thespian, however, prefers to sharpen the mess rather than force the lie of evenness on what was never meant to be. She takes all the possible readings of Jasmine and plays them up to cacophonic effect, pulling in every direction with such dynamic brio you become distracted like a baby gazing at a mobile's spinning colors. This is acting as spectacle and excuse for itself - exhilarating to witness, less so to ponder.
It reframes the screen into a proscenium not that distant from the theatrical space of a performer's solo recitation. Blue Jasmine becomes a quasi-cynical acting exercise not just because Blanchett plays it accordingly but because Allen paved her path and pushed her along the winding ways.
Entire sequences are built around flaunting the performance rather than going any deeper into the character, spitting in the face of psychological credulity or dramatic purpose to a point the entire endeavor rings with an echo of dishonesty. The camera doesn't regard Jasmine as subject. Instead, it considers Blanchett on that level. It sees her as an elemental phenomenon wholly divorced from the concepts and conceits the narrative feigns. A more experimental apparatus might have refashioned the project around that impulse, but Blue Jasmine insists on its Allen-branded zingers and some of the most superficial drama in the director's oeuvre, shackling itself to an unproductive model.
The 'tipping' spiel to her nephews is a particular bother and strikes me as the most evident point of failure in the project's zig-zagging priorities cum self-delusion. Allen and Blanchett appear so interested in relishing the disintegration of Jasmine that they seem unconcerned with what they have established about the broken woman. Specifically, I never believed the Jasmine on-screen as the same person whose backstory we are told and retold, a society hostess with an entire life built around projecting a curated image of wealth-facilitates superiority. At the moment we find her, the palace of projection has been bombed out of existence, but surely some of its foundations should still be visible.
Surely, to define brokenness in characterization, the ghost of what was once whole must be reflected. When the flashbacks fail at this critical role, you know you're in trouble. Hell, going back to the beginning, to that opening airplane chit-chat, we find the characterization sweating with showboating neurosis before her reluctant companion's punchline. Everything is so demarcated as to be diffused out of its power. Similarly, the remembrance of a shoe-shop humiliating crowned with that iconic, Oscar-clip-ready roar feels pained in its strain to throw everything at the screen. These moments impress as individual elements. They're less persuasive when seen as part of a much larger edifice. But then I remember a flash of genius, the vacant stare upon the first outing with Hawkins or a cannibalizing loathing for everything and everyione - the mind reels.
To better appreciate Blanchett and Allen's Jasmine, I suppose missing the forest for the trees is ideal – and what amazing trees they are, endlessly entertaining evergreens.
Re-watching Blue Jasmine after all these years, cinematic opinions molded by new experiences, I hoped my negativity had assuaged. Sadly, that wasn't the case, making me very vexed at myself indeed. Reading this hot take express, you might think me a contrarian, but there's no pleasure in disagreeing on such a beloved actress's achievement. Still, revisiting Allen's movie in 2023, I do come to it with a much more expansive knowledge of Cate Blanchett as artist and star, how I tend to react to her. After experiencing her work in over fifty movies, I've concluded I'm oddly out of step with popular consensus on what constitutes her best performances, towering achievements, and well-worn strategies.
Performance-wise, the film's biggest problem might be how it amplifies all of Blanchett's most dubious instincts and justifies none of them. TÁR incurred similar skepticism from yours truly, and her Notes on a Scandal extravaganza still tastes overbaked, overegged, too much all around. Elizabeth is an old point of dissatisfaction, her '98 breakthrough feeling more mannered with each re-watch, a novice's eagerness to prove herself both in dialogue with the role and at odds with Kapur's directorial flourishes. Manifesto is another relative disappointment, no matter how elastic Blanchett's persona reveals itself.
Heaven may be lauded to the heights of its title, but it's not as incredible as its reputation promised, Giovanni Ribisi taking the MVP honors away from the leading lady from down under. Carol is a point of concordance, for not even I can deny its genius, partly because of how Blanchett calibrates her stage-bound instincts to a representation of period social theater. Then again, there's none of that in her final look at Rooney Mara's Therese, the lancinate vulnerability of her "I love you." The Talented Mr. Ripley's Meredith works in similar terms of purposeful artifice modulating spikes of honesty, so maybe it's a Highsmith-related phenomenon.
But that's too limiting a notion when one considers the marvel of her Truth, the euphoria of Bandits, or the sublimely stilted self-prison of Miss America, for which Blanchett should have won every award under the sun. From her Oscar-nominated turns, the biopic-adjacent stylings of Kate Hepburn and Bob Dylan delight by how they make a deviation from lived-in naturalism a point of strength rather than weakness, allowing brittleness to grow from fault to feature. They also use Blanchett's blinding star power in ways other projects seem afraid of exploring, selling her more as a chameleon than a bright spot in Hollywood's celestial firmament.
That said, I'd rather nominate Blanchett in 2004 for Coffee & Cigarettes, playing against herself in a naked acting exercise that never wears pretensions of something bigger, digging its heels in a state of playfulness. Oh, Blanchett is so amazing when she's playful, reveling in the fun of a role and inviting the audience to join on the ride to joy. I think back to her florid villainy in Hanna and Indiana Jones, the humanity laced within the diva devilishness of Cinderella's stepmother, the juicy exaggeration of Nightmare Alley and the monkey madness of Pinocchio. There's a clue of that quality in the genre etherealness of her Galadriel, perhaps in the color of Oscar & Lucinda and The Shipping News' trashy tramp too.
In The Man Who Cried, she's up to different wizardry, a magic circus in showgirl apparel. She reshapes the script around a hyper-fake demeanor and even faker accent, insinuating new meanings into the story while challenging every creative decision thrown by director Sally Potter. When working for Wes Anderson, she showed the same impulse, honing on the melancholy within the material and bringing it out, illuminating the potential paradoxes. So maybe I'm not a Cate Blanchett agnostic, just a believer who follows a different doctrine than the ruling dogma. My Holy Text comprises outliers instead of the most applauded stuff, prayers directed at Meredith Logue, not Jasmine-Jeanette nor Lydia-Linda. I believe Blanchett is often remarkable, though she needs projects where she fits as a collaborator, not just a showcased attraction.
Even so, all this rumbling babble aside, it's impossible to be mad at Blanchett's 2013 victory. Just remembering her smashing speech, a smile sketches itself on my face – "Thank you(…)to the audiences who went to see it, and perhaps those of us in the industry who are still foolishly clinging to the idea that female films with women at the center are niche experiences. They are not. Audiences want to see them, and, in fact, they earn money. So... The world is round, people!" – Amen.
Are you readying your torches and pitchforks to come for this Blue Jasmine heretic, or will you join me in Cate Blanchett sectarianism?
Reader Comments (15)
I really loved Blue Jasmine as well as Blanchett's performance, but this piece makes me want to revisit it (like any good piece should)! On my first two watches I thought the moments of artifice brilliant, and I thought there were hints at the old Jasmine, especially in her relationship with Chilli. I also think Blanchett plays her psychological issues as a clear break from reality that she seems to be teetering in and out of.
I think her best performance is her work in Mrs. America, and it's a shame she didn't get any awards for it in a tough season. However, how does her work in Little Fish rank? I think it's one of her great performances, though it's obvious watching it now why she loved To Leslie.
No pitchforks, despite my overwhelming love for her. We all have performers, filmmakers, artists who don't speak to us, despite their acclaim. For me, it's Glenn Close. I stuck predicting Olivia Colman in part because I just couldn't imagine enough people embracing her career to give her that victory. It's always interesting to see who of the canonized we don't grock with (I struggled for the longest time with Audrey Hepburn)
That said, my admiration for Blanchett is considerable. In the 1972 Supporting Actress Smackdown podcast, Donna Lynne Champlin mentioned that with acting, she doesn't want to see process, she wants to see someone "between trapeezes" (apologies if I'm misquoting). I don't mind seeing process. The thing with Blanchett that she does exceptionally well is how she makes process an actual subject with her characters. You see this many of her great performances. And her charisma in something like Elizabeth, Notes on a Scandal or Charlotte Grey is just thrilling.
I don't blame people who find her arch. But at her best, the emotional calibration and intellectual ferocity she brings... amazing.
It took me awhile to warm up to Blanchett a bit like Chastain over praised at the start of their careers but proving over time each wasn't a fluke.
I totally agree on the NOAS performance,when she tips into madness it's too histrionic to resemble true human behaviour.
I always enjoyed her 10 minutes in The Shipping News.
I have the exact same reaction to Frances McDormand in Fargo,Gena Rowlands A Woman Under The Influence and Diane Keaton in Annie Hall,I don't get it despite seeing those films multiple times,I would nominate none of them in their respective years,I sometimes wonder if anyone else feels this way
I think it's refreshing Claudio you have shared your skepticism on a lauded performance,more of these please
For me Carol is her best performance closely followed by BJ and I'm Not There with Tar,Elizabeth and Ripley backing them up.
I see your point regards the flashbacks,I too despite loving watching her perform the role have difficulty with that final meltdown bench scene,I could never quite believe she'd fall this far and all the stuff at the dentisit's office rings false but that's the screenplay.
She is one of the best actresses around and i'm excited to see in her anything but I'm not as in love with her as I am with Kate Winslet who came up the same time as Cate.
My problem with Blanchett is that I can always see the acting happening. I could never believe that Jasmine was falling apart because Blanchett was so tightly controlling the performance; nothing felt spontaneous. Breathe just so, quiver in the voice HERE, tentative gesture THERE -- that gets tiring very quickly.
I love Cate Blanchett in the film while I also felt there wasn't enough credit for Sally Hawkins in the film as well as she managed to not be upstaged by Blanchett. Then there's Andrew Dice Clay as he surprised the hell out of me with his small performance in the film as I didn't realize that he could act as it marked a new career for him as he would be in A Star is Born as Lady Gaga's dad.
I think her best act is in Carol, drift hunters which is followed closely by BJ and I'm Not There, with Tar, Elizabeth, and Ripley in the background.
Her best work is Carol, I guess.
I understand Keith's point, but Blanchett's control is why her performance in Carol is so good. Carol is a character that knows she's been watched all the time and knows she's playing a character.
It perfectly combines Blanchett's skills and the part's needs.
I can see her greatness but she rarely moves me.
My favourite Cate Blanchett movies are The Gift, An Ideal Husband, and Veronica Guerin.
The Gift is kind of a small town Southern mystery noir, with Blanchett playing the local psychic and fortune teller, with a script co-written by Billy Bob Thornton, and based on his mother (!). Directed by Sam Raimi. Blanchett is perfect as someone who is “different” but trying to get along, when she is obviously so much smarter and more talented than anybody there. The story is helped by authentic portrayals by Hilary Swank and Keanu Reeves of the recognizable types that make small towns hell to live in.
An Ideal Husband is based on the Oscar Wilde play. With Rupert Everett, Minnie Driver, Julianne Moore, and Jeremy Northam slinging out the Wildean barbs with great style, Blanchett can relax. She’s sweet and warm, not having the responsibility of driving all the witticisms.
Veronica Guerin is the (biographical) story of a murdered Irish investigative journalist. Blanchett plays her as someone smart and lively who gets in over her head, and is terrified. I was terrified with her.
And of course, she is perfect as Galadriel in LOTR.
Recently, I thought she was great in Ocean’s 8.
I never saw Blue Jasmine because she was so thirsty for that Oscar that she wouldn’t let any Woody Allen narrative distract her from that goal. I got the impression that she was playing a character assassination devised by Allen, that she glossed over, driving for that award. Obviously I didn’t see it, so I could be wrong on that part. But the undeviating thirst put me off.
This should turn into a series Desacralizing Our Goddesses. How liberating!
@PeggySue I too would like more of these.
Peggy Sue & Mr Ripley79 - - That's an enticing idea, but what other widely acclaimed, untouchable, performances could get this treatment? I'm genuinely curious and feel it could be a fun exercise.
This is one of my favorite Oscar wins of all time. That last scene on the park bench. Wow. I also would've voted for Hawkins and ADC would've been on my ballot as well.
I would suggest maybe doing a different take : “Glimpsing Our Unrecognized Goddesses”.
Those actresses that we love who never get enough screentime, or a major character to play, but who our eye goes to, and how we grieve a little when they are shuffled off screen, and we wish the movie was about them.
Yes, there are lead actresses that bore me, but there are still not that many Lead Actress movies (especially with big budgets).
Noting overpraise on lead actresses seems a bit misdirected, when the overpraise is rife on Lead Actors. No matter how mediocre they are, they can keep getting work (just like Armie Hammer). When the supporting cast works valiantly to make a movie click, they get the credit, and the pay raise.
Who wants to see Leonardo di Caprio play another emotionally stunted male? Nobody. Who believes Matt Damon is the American Everyman? Nobody. When you see Ben Affleck’s name, you know the movie is going to be over- budgeted over-praised garbage. And the “comedians”! Will Ferrell, Chris Pratt, Jason Bateman.... please go away.
This is one of my favorite performances by her. I watch and thoroughly enjoy this movie once a year