Gee whiz. If Blue Jasmine – the 44th movie Woody Allen directed – was any more depressing, it would be Husbands and Wives or Crimes and Misdemeanors.

The film is about a wealthy New York wife (Cate Blanchett), married to a high-rolling financier (Alex Baldwin), a Bernie Madoff-type who suddenly finds herself without a husband, without a home, and without money after her husband goes to prison for fraud.

The dramatic drop from the highest high to a humbling low takes a toll on her life and she more or less snaps, ends up talking to herself.

She moves in with her sister in San Francisco and takes a job as a receptionist in a dentist’s office while she attends school to better herself. The pressure of juggling her job, her class, her sister’s lower-class lifestyle and friends (who hit on her), and her boss (who hits on her), and a growing drinking problem takes a toll.

Her last chance at escaping the downward spiral is meeting a wealthy state department diplomat (Peter Sarsgaard) at a party, inventing a different past, and posing as an interior decorator. The two fall in love.

But when Jasmin’s ruse is discovered, the bottom totally drops out.

Blue Jasmine was nominated for Continue reading →