We love watching rich people be rich and happy, but maybe we love it more when the cash stops flowing. There's a Japanese phrase for that, and roughly translated, it goes like this: "The unhappiness of others tastes of honey." In that vein, Woody Allen's newest work, "Blue Jasmine" — a film that stirred up a hornet's nest of past scandal and present indictment by his daughter, Dylan Farrow, when it opened in the U.S. last year — is dripping with honey. Unhappiness is the name of the game here, along with deceit, self-delusion and money problems — huge money problems. Ah, the taste of honey.
"Blue Jasmine" is Allen's most brilliant work in years, not least because he's uninterested in charming the audience with love stories and relationship jitters. "Blue Jasmine" belongs to the titular character, Jasmine (played by a scintillating Cate Blanchett, who bagged an Oscar for her performance), who is defined by money (or lack of it), and Allen seems totally mesmerized by his own creation.
Jasmine is deeply troubled, but atypical of an Allen heroine, she refuses to admit how low she has sunk. Her way is to guzzle Stoli vodka, pop Xanax and just ignore the pain and anxiety eating away at her.