Woody Allen on Cate Blanchett, The Woman Who Put The Jasmine in 'Blue Jasmine'

Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine is being hailed as his best film in two decades by some, his best film ever by others. At its marrow, the film is a character drama about loss and decisions. And, talking to The Guardian, the legendary film make has talked about Cate Blanchett’s character: Jasmine.

Jasmine starts hanging around with a new crowd -namely these guys.

"Ninety-nine per cent of decisions are predicated on feelings – instinctive, emotional, fears, conflicts, unresolved childhood problems. They're our dominant motivating factor, not reason or rationality or common sense. And that's why the world is in a terrible, terrible state,” said Allen.

Jasmine is a once-rich woman living in New York. Within the depths of a crisis, she travels to San Francisco to impose on her sister. Blanchett’s performance as the troubled socialite is being hailed as not only Oscar worthy, but career defining.

Watch the Blue Jasmine trailer

"She could have gotten a divorce, forgiven him, had a talk with him, moved out of the house. But she just hit the ceiling blindly and went on a rampage that brought destruction upon her whole household. She never stopped to think out the consequences of her raging moment,” Allen added of his latest and possibly greatest character.

The intricacy with which Allen approaches his work is perhaps the most startling and satisfying thing about it. What he’s portraying in Blue Jasmine is, like he says, an everyday thing, magnified so it may be viewed within the spectrum – the microcosm – of cinema.

“Blue Jasmine is an elegant, witty and sophisticated tale that reaches back into the American literary traditions of Edith Wharton and F Scott Fitzgerald, but also Allen's own magnificent tradition of compassionate human comedy. It is pure movie-going pleasure,” said Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian. Blue Jasmine is released today (Sept 27) in the UK.

Alec Baldwin and Cate Blanchett in Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine