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| Cate Blanchett as Jasmine |
Recently, I
had the opportunity to take a class called Psychology
and Film at Sierra College taught by Kathleen Taylor-Fillebrown. The class
offered a unique opportunity to analyze characters portrayed on the screen from
a sociological and psychological perspective, sometimes aided by the Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
For my final project, I analyzed Woody Allen’s 2013 film, Blue Jasmine, which stars Cate Blanchett in the title role. This is
a slightly expanded essay on the pathology and resiliency of a character who when
last seen on screen showed no visible means of support.
Inspired by Tennessee William’s
Blanche DuBois, but much better kept, Jasmine may not be at the end of her rope.
Perhaps, like Ingmar Bergman, who provided a sequel to Scenes From a Marriage, Woody Allen will revisit Jasmine at some
future date.
As Hal’s trophy wife, Jasmine
thrives. Giving parties, supporting causes, and lunching with other trophy
wives, she is at home and in her element, usually dressed to the nines, with a
drink in her hand. As long as she ignores the rumors that Hal is up to
financial monkey business and keeps her blinders on when it comes to his
infidelity, everything is just fine. New York’s upper set is her oyster and she
is a shiny pearl.
Jasmine
despises the working class. She was raised to believe that she is better than
other people by the family that adopted her. Her adopted sib, Ginger, got out
as quickly as she could recognizing that Jeanette, who renamed herself, Jasmine
French, was the favorite child. Ginger is a good person and content with a
working class life, but deep down inside, she agrees with Jasmine’s assessment
that she has poor judgment when it comes to men. The evidence supports
Jasmine’s appraisal.
Jasmine could be the poster child for
Narcissistic Personality Disorder. She also shows some signs of Schizoaffective
Disorder. Jasmine’s pervasive pattern of grandiosity is introduced early in the
film when she tells Ginger that she has no money, but she has still managed to
fly first class to San Francisco with her Louis Vuitton luggage.
When Jasmine
meets Dwight at a party, she exaggerates her Interior Design resume, perhaps to
get a job, but more likely to wrangle a new husband with money and potential.
Dwight is someone who knows something about fashion. She identifies Dwight as a
person of high status, one of her people. He might understand her because he
comes from a higher place than Ginger and low life friends.
Jasmine is an alien in Ginger’s South
Van Ness working class world. Menial work, school, and Ginger’s friends drive
her to excessive drink and Xanax. It’s only when she is invited to a party in
Marin, where she meets Dwight, a man of wealth, and charm, that she appears to
be on the road to recovery. So what if she has to over sold herself with lies
about her past and a false resume. A counterfeit pedigree might just get her
back in the game.
Jasmine’s
sense of entitlement is all pervasive, about the only time she isn’t waiting
for someone to get her a drink, or helping herself to one, is when she is
forced by circumstance to take a position as a receptionist. Jasmine’s
expressions of disgust and exhaustion, when waiting on people, reveals a total
lack of empathy. Jasmine’s holier than thou attitude attracts the attention of
her employer, the aptly named, Dr. Flicker. Sexual harassment is the last straw
for Jasmine, but it does give her a socially acceptable reason to quit her low
class job.
Besides
being a total narcissist, Jasmine’s behavior shows signs of Schizoaffective
Disorder. Jasmine is prone to mood swings. She is quick to criticize when
triggered. She has delusions of
grandeur. She likes expensive things and believes she should have them. Jasmine has hallucinations in the form of
flashbacks. Her speech is disorganized
and so is her thinking. She talks to herself. She has difficulty in
goal-directed behavior. Her problems studying for school are a good example of
avolition.
When Jasmine experiences an affective
flattening of emotional expression in a restaurant, Chili and his friend, Eddie
both recognize that something isn’t right. Eddie even comments on it, bringing
Jasmine out of her stupor.
If Jasmine
remains stuck in the working class world her bounce back potential is nil without
some major behavior modification. Ginger can’t help her because Jasmine doesn’t
respect her. In Ginger’s world, Jasmine would have to lower herself to
accepting charity from Social Services to get back on her feet. If she can get
back to New York, she might be able to find shelter and support from one of her
old friends who are part of the social elite.
If someone,
preferably someone rich, were to come along and take care of Jasmine – give her
a nice house, feed her, provide her with servants – her confidence would return
and she might once again take an interest in life. She might even cut down on
the drugs and booze.
Jasmine is more at home with her New
York City friends, having lunch out or playing hostess, than she is anywhere
else in her life. The social status and buying power afforded by being Hal’s
wife is her greater reality, perhaps more real than her affection for Danny,
Hal’s son from a previous marriage. Unfortunately, her expectations for Danny
are that he becomes a Little Hal, a sanitized version of Big Hal. Jasmine is
more devastated by Danny’s loss of social status, when she visits the music shop
where he works, than she is with his anger that she betrayed his father by snitching
to the FBI. Besides, it’s obvious he is in no position to take care of Jasmine,
even if he shared her affection. Jasmine needs a friend more than she needs any
member of her family. Unfortunately, she wants a new Hal. Dwight might have fit
the bill if she were honest with him, but foolish pride got in the way.
Jasmine is a delicate flower. If she
isn’t treated in the manner she has come to expect, she might wither away on a
park bench somewhere in San Francisco. She has a low threshold for adversity.
If she doesn’t get what she wants she gets stressed. Stress leads to Xanax and
alcohol. She copes by getting numb and shutting off or shutting down the world
around her. The life going on in her head is a better place and she shares that
world through one-sided conversations. You never quite know who she is talking
too and you are a lucky soul, if you can get a word in edgewise.
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| Cate Blanchett as Jasmine |
