Blue Jasmine

I'd already prepared this post when blog-friend "mike" commented under a previous post (this one) alerting me to an "Open Letter" written by Dylan Farrow, an adopted daughter of Mia Farrow and Woody Allen. Its contents are disturbing. Anyone reading that letter would also be well-advised to read this article: The Woody Allen Allegations: Not So Fast, by Robert Weide. It seems to me there are several layers to this story. The child, now a woman has undoubtedly been mentally damaged, but how and by whom, for me isn't clear. As I responded to "mike", I'm wary of jumping onto the cyber-bandwagon of outrage. We outsiders cannot be 100% sure of exactly what went on so many years ago. I'm going to leave it at that.

BLUE JASMINE

Blue Jasmine: we watched the DVD recently, I enjoyed it, husband declared it just "alright". We don't see a single gun in Blue Jasmine, that has to be a plus, all by itself!
I usually enjoy Woody Allen's movies, he wrote and directed this one, but didn't appear in it. His movies have a classy direction style and really good writing, always leaving food for further thought. His superb choices of background music are yet another plus-point. (Clint Eastwood is another director who takes great pains to ensure background music in his self-directed movies is always "just right".)

Blue Jasmine has a fairly straightforward theme: a snooty wife of a shady financial wheeler-dealer comes unraveled after her husband's come-uppance and demise. She finds herself left penniless, needing to stay with her working-class, down-to-earth sister, and to uneasily mix with her sister's friends. Fine detail in Woody's writing is put under a microscope, to emerge even finer, by the excellent Cate Blanchett. Without an actress of her calibre the movie could have sunk without trace, in spite of Woody Allen's writing and direction - he knew what he was doing when he chose his leading lady!

I haven't read many reviews of the film, had read none before watching the DVD, so was unaware of the storyline. Since watching the film I've scanned a couple of reviews, a few comments and noticed that different people saw different things in this film. In spite of its straightforward base theme there are several integral strands.

Some female commenters have expressed the view that Woody Allen is a misogynist, that he depicted the women of the story unsympathetically as either neurotic, paranoid, pretentious snobs, or vulgar no-hopers, while most of the movie's men are painted in kinder colours. I firmly disagree with that opinion. I see Woody Allen as one of the better writers of and for women. He doesn't write about "ordinary" women - like me - that would be mind-bogglingly boring, nobody would go see a movie about someone like me. He writes about oddballs, bitches, paranoid creatures, snobs, often about New Yorkers with a level of so-called "sophistication" unfamiliar to most of us. That is not misogyny, that's drama. I disagree that the men in Blue Jasmine were treated more kindly. They are...let's see: a major swindler and cheat (the film's short-lived "baddie"); a rather loud-mouthed working class guy prone to hot-temper and object throwing, which could quite easily morph into abuse; a shy mousey guy, nice, well-meaning but a bit "needy"; a cheating, lying sex-starved husband out for a cheap thrill; a dentist who should have been sued for sexual harassment; and a rich charmer with eyes on a political career, shopping (with blinkers on, brain turned off) for a wife to match his ambitions.

Another way of seeing the film - my way - is as a caricature of class differences in the USA. Caricatures are by nature extreme, and Blue Jasmine's class differences were definitely extreme. Some viewers could (possibly rightly) say that Woody Allen was showing his own snobbery towards ordinary working class people, but we have to remember that this was not a documentary, but a drama! He drew his characters from life, then exaggerated them beyond the norm for dramatic intensity. I wouldn't say there are no characters in real life like those in Blue Jasmine, but the majority, I suspect, are not nearly as extreme. As I often keep reminding my husband when watching movies, and he complains, "that wouldn't happen"....I reply "It's a stooooo-ry!" I did comment myself, however, in Blue Jasmine, at the point when Jasmine (Cate Blanchett) declared herself unable to use a computer and needed to take a course. "That wouldn't happen to someone of her age", said I, "she uses a smartphone for goodness sake!" Again, I guess Woody Allen used this exaggeration as a ploy to draw further attention to Jasmine's wealth-sheltered, pampered former life-style.

The film could also be seen as a diary of a mental breakdown, painfully drawn, expertly acted by the lead character, with all other characters fading to the background, almost into insignificance. Yet another, interwoven strand of the story, deals with relationships, making them work, and what that takes; how they can so easily be destroyed, and what it might cost to try to repair them.

MONDAY MOVIES ~ Midnight in Paris & Another Earth

A couple of reasonably up-to-date movies, rented as counterpoint to our usual out-of- date junk-store acquisitions.

Midnight in Paris (2011)

Woody Allen was writer and director, though this time with no starring part. This movie won him the Best Screenplay award at yesterday's Golden Globes shindig. At last - something we've actually seen got an award! The film was also nominated in two or three other categories from memory - Best Film, Best Male Actor in a Comedy or Musical (Owen Wilson) among them.

I like Woody Allen's work, wrote a post about his movie corroboration with Diane Keaton and their natal charts a while ago - that post is HERE.

Midnight in Paris is the most straightforwardly accessible of any Allen movie I've seen, yet it still has a quirky twist and, as always, good music.

Set in Paris, as the title hints, with all of the goodies of the movie happening at and after midnight. A group from the USA are on vacation in Paris. Gil, one of the group, played by Owen Wilson, is a Hollywood screenwriter whose dream is to write a good novel. He appears to be on a completely different wavelength from his fiancée played by Rachel McAdams, her parents and her friends. Gil wanders off alone, one midnight, and inadvertently enters....what....a time-warp? Suspension of disbelief and willingness to go where Woody Allen beckons is necessary.

On Gil's many midnight ventures he discovers that time has slipped back to the 1920s. He finds himself among and embraced by some of the luminaries of his favourite era: Cole Porter, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda, Gertrude Stein (Kathy Bates!) Picasso, Dali, Man Ray, and others.

I'll not give away more of the plot, which isn't at all complex, easily predictable - the fun is in the predicting.

The whole premise reminded me of the style of some of Thorne Smith's books. Wonder if Woody Allen had been reading one when the idea came to him? I've always loved Thorne Smith's daffy novels - he was the subject of one of my first blog topics in 2006: See HERE.

Midnight in Paris is a thoroughly enjoyable bit of fun - well worth the rental fee! Highly recommended.


Another Earth (2011)

An indie movie, its premiere was at the Sundance Festival 2011. Sort of sci-fi, sort of allegory, sort of metaphor - I guess.

There are no "big names" in this film. The two leads, Brit Marling and William Mapother were unknown to me, but turn in excellent performances.

As the story begins a young woman celebrating acceptance into an Institute of Technology is driving without due care, looking at a "new" planet in the sky, kills a mother and child, and leaves the child's father in a coma. She is imprisoned for several years. On release, still filled with remorse, unwilling to carry on with the kind of career she had chosen before the accident, she takes a job as janitor, so as to work with her hands rather than her head.

To say much more would give away the plotline, which would be a pity. This is a fairly new DVD and a passing reader might wish to rent it.

The "other Earth" part of the story offers another incidence where suspension of disbelief comes in handy. The fact that writer/producer Mike Cahill doesn't address the science of the other Earth-like planet, sitting so close to our Earth , yet causing no disturbance, indicates that the story's premise is meant to be taken mainly as metaphorical/allegorical.

In Wikipedia's Production Notes (do not read Wiki's page if you wish to avoid plot details) we are told:

The idea behind Another Earth first developed out of director Mike Cahill and actress Brit Marling speculating as to what it would be like were one to encounter one's own self. In order to explore the possibility on a large scale, they devised the concept of a duplicate Earth. The visual representation of the duplicate planet was deliberately made to evoke the Moon, as Cahill was deeply inspired by the 1969 Apollo 11 lunar landing.

Another movie worth renting!

WOODY ALLEN & DIANE KEATON

So far, the movie actor/director collaborators I've featured have been two males: Hanks/Howard, Depp/Burton, Crowe/Scott, De Niro/Scorsese. I'd best change that pattern before it becomes a habit! How about Woody Allen and Diane Keaton ?

I enjoy Woody Allen's humour - always have. He's multi-talented: film director, screenwriter, actor, comedian, writer, musician and playwright, quite a resume! My first memory of him goes right back to the 1960s. I bought an LP of his as a gift for a friend. At that time he wasn't well known, the recording was a kind of stand-up routine by Woody. We got lots of laughs from it, puzzled over a few Americanisms it contained - one which sticks in my mind: "hickey" - in those days, back in the UK, we didn't know what that meant.

In spite of Allen's engaging humour though, there's something a wee bit puzzling, disturbing even, as he comes across to the public in his writing and in some of his movies. According to Wikipedia his childhood was not happy. Perhaps that has provided the foundation for his unique blend of humour, melancholy and pessimism.

Allen's movie collaborations with Diane Keaton include:

"Annie Hall"
"Sleeper"
"Love and Death"
"Interiors"
"Manhattan"
"Hannah and Her Sisters"
a film version of "Play It Again", Sam, directed by Herbert Ross.

Allen credits Keaton as his muse during his early film career. They shared a romatic relarionship for a year or so - but that was before their professional collaboration began. It has been said that "Annie Hall" was practically a documentation of their own romantic relationship.

I'm looking for a connection between their natal charts which might account for the attraction to one another, and their ability to collaborate professionally.

Woody Allen was born in Brooklyn, New York on 1 December 1935 at 10.55pm (Astrodatabank)




Diane Keeton born 5 January 1946 in Los Angeles, California at 2.49 am(Astrodatabank)




Diane Keaton has now added directing to her own repertoire. She's also a keen photographer, with a published volume of pics of hotel interiors to her name.

The most obvious link between Keaton and Allen is their shared Moon in Aquarius, Keaton at 7*, Allen at 24*. There's a clear bonding factor right there - a certain ability to feel cool and detached from anything over-emotional - this is in spite of Ms Keaton's passionate Scorpio rising, with which her Aquarian Moon probably fights from time to time.

Both have Mercury in Sagittarius 24* Keaton, 4* Allen. Allen's Mercury is part of a stellium in Saggitarius (a tight cluster of 3 planets): Sun/Jupiter/Mercury. Sagittarius Mercury links to a gift for humour in both actor and director's nature, Jupiter is in its own domain of Sagittarius in Allen's chart, magnifying and underlining this facet of his nature. Keaton's Sun and Venus in Capricorn mean she's a shrewd businesswoman as well as a talented actor. Allen has Mars in Capricorn - another zodiacal link which surely adds to their understanding of each other's attitudes.

Both have disciplinarian Saturn in a Water sign, a softer version of Saturn, perhaps - Cancer for Keaton, Pisces in Allen's case. Allen's Saturn is squaring the Sagittarius cluster though, bringing in an altogether harder feel to his Saturn.

Allen's Virgo ascendant indicates a propensity for nitpicking, attention to detail, a very critical guy. Keaton's Scorpio ascendant reflects her intensity and, as it's a fixed sign, a definite stubborn streak - possibly this is why the two of them didn't last more than a year in a romantic relationship. The positive and compatible factors in their charts weren't quite strong enough, long-term, to compensate for the detramental ones.

Woody Allen's chart has many more challenging aspects than Keaton's - it's full of them. This is where his disturbing melancholy and pessimism probably come from. I'd guess that happy-go-lucky Sagittarius stellium of his is truly his saving grace, a buoyant lifebelt in a stormy sea.

Allen is the absolute master of one-liners - a few of his on which to end. His Sagittarian flair for philosphy shines through; usually with tongue is firmly in cheek:

I am two with nature.

I believe there is something out there watching us. Unfortunately, it's the government.

I don't believe in the after life, although I am bringing a change of underwear.

I'm astounded by people who want to 'know' the universe when it's hard enough to find your way around Chinatown.

If you're not failing every now and again, it's a sign you're not doing anything very innovative.

Time is nature's way of keeping everything from happening at once.

To you I'm an atheist; to God, I'm the Loyal Opposition.

Tradition is the illusion of permanance.

What if everything is an illusion and nothing exists? In that case, I definitely overpaid for my carpet.