Blue Jasmine Comes Full Circle

Jasmine French...
"Anxiety, nightmares and a nervous breakdown, there's only so much traumas a person can withstand until they take to the streets and start screaming."

Cate Blanchette as Jasmine French (Blue Jasmine)

Congratulations Cate Blanchette on your much deserved Oscar win for Blue Jasmine! I knew you would be bringing that golden one home the minute I saw the movie, but in truth, I think I knew from that very first day I caught a glimpse of you arriving on the set at the dental office on the corner of Ulloa and Claremont, in San Francisco! It was destined. No doubt about it!

 

And Now For The Elephant In The Room...

If you have been reading my blog, within the last couple years or so, you already know that one of my life's highlights happened when I got to watch Woody Allen shoot the film Blue Jasmine in San Francisco, in late August of 2012. I have written many blog posts about those three days, and all the silly circumstances surrounding the adventure. I shared about the moments of serendipity that took place, such as meeting a chicken on Lexington avenue, with the filming of the film taking place just down the street.

I shared about the awesome street art I found along the way, and my own silly misadventures, like on the first day, when we turned onto Lexington, and suddenly everything went WHITE! I thought I had died! In reality, it was the fact that the sun was in just the right place in the sky to be blinding, as it bounced off the white film trucks that lined the very narrow street! LOL. Nerves, at the prospect of seeing Woody Allen, coupled with a very HOT day, and the surprise of turning onto not just any street, but indeed a street lined with film equipment, made for one nervous woman... ME! LOL.

It was an adventure. One I will never forget. But just one thing. I am actually thrilled for Ms. Blanchette. I am happy for Woody Allen. But being happy and thrilled in this case comes with an elephant in the room.

I admire the man's body of work. I have admired his creativity my whole life. As for is private life... it's none of my business... period. I think a lot has happened, people have been hurt deeply, but it has nothing to do with me. I love Mia Farrow. I love Woody Allen. I think Dylan is a lovely young woman who has had to endure a lot of pain, and I ache for her in that instance. But I wasn't there. I can't throw stones. And being a survivor of abuse, I know that each of us handles our pain differently. As differently as our individual fingerprints. 

It simply isn't mine to judge. 

But I will say this...

If Dylan really believes it to be true... indeed knows it to be true... stop hurting others... press charges against the one who hurt you, and let justice do what it must.

If Woody Allen is innocent, and Mia knows it, stop damaging your daughter and her relationships in the future, because believe me, it will haunt her for a million years. Long after your time on earth is done, Dylan will be in pain, and fighting her demons daily.

Enough said.

Blue Jasmine has come full circle. Personally, I am glad I have the memory of watching the work that went into making that cinematic magic come to life. And last night, when that lovely woman won her Oscar, I felt a little extra happy remembering the fun of that August. But now the last scene has played.

The End.



"I have no idea what I am doing, but incompetence has never stopped me from plunging in with enthusiasm."

~Woody Allen

Mood: Quiet

~Me 

Note: If you would like to read my review of Blue Jasmine see my post here... Blue Jasmine.

Blue Jasmine... The Movie Poster And Cypress Green... The Car

"The whole of life is just like watching a film. Only it's as though you always get in ten minutes after the big picture has started, and no-one will tell you the plot, so you have to work it out all yourself from the clues."

~Terry Pratchett, Moving Pictures

 

Finally... the poster has been unveiled! Little by little, inch by inch, we move closer to the premier of Woody Allen's latest film Blue Jasmine. I have been waiting since last summer for this movie, and in just a couple months it will finally be in theaters and the big question I have had since we turned the corner onto 20th street, in San Francisco, that hot August day last year... Is the top of my Cypress green 2007 Saturn Ion visible from the second floor window where Woody was filming a scene? LOL. Did my car become a star that day? You bet! At least in my hopes it did! You see, to me, if you are seen in a Woody Allen movie, even if it is just the top of your head, or hood of one's car in this case, then you have made it into cinematic history. If the top of Lilith, my car, can be seen, I will have a permanent smile the rest of my days! I kid you not. I wouldn't want to have been seen in the film in a million years, I much too shy for that. But to see my car would be like having the best secret ever, a secret that's all mine, because who else would care but me? Does that make sense?

If Lilith is nowhere to be found in the movie, no worries, I enjoyed watching it being filmed so much that I am still smiling over it. Alan and I continue laugh about how completely out there I got just standing across the street from Mr. Allen. There I was, maybe 20 steps from someone I have admired and appreciated my whole life, I had all my cameras with me, I had every opportunity to get the quintessential Woody Allen photo, and what happens? My hands wouldn't stop shaking! I had to work incredibly hard to get the handful of photos I did, but at least I didn't give up! I didn't run away, or rather shy away. I stood there, tried to calm myself down, and got the photographs I came for! I met the challenge! Fear BE DAMNED!

"To love is to suffer. To avoid suffering one must no love. But then one suffers from not loving. Therefore, to love is to suffer; not to love is to suffer; to suffer is to suffer. To be happy is to love. To be happy, then, is to suffer, but suffering makes one unhappy. Therefore, to be happy one must love or love to suffer or suffer from too much happiness."

~Woody Allen

If my car, Lilith, did indeed make it into the film, here is how she would appear...
 

I know, at first sight, not much to write home about. But to me... the thrill of a lifetime. I hated having to get rid of my beloved car last year. She and I have a lot of memories together! Oh my... alas... it was time. My Lilith died less than one month later. And I miss her, I really loved that car! So I can't help but hope, a little, that she somehow has done will I will never be able to do, live on immortal. To be seen, if only in a glimpse, world wide, as a splash of color in a Woody Allen film!

How can I not think of her lovingly, after all, if not for her, and Alan of course, I would have never been able to reach my lifetime goal of making inadvertent eye contact with Woody Allen! And I did it not once... but twice! :)

Tee Hee!

 

"80% of success is showing up."

~Woody Allen

Mood: Happy


~Me :)