"Blue Jasmine," Directed by Woody Allen

In Woody Allen's "Blue Jasmine," Jasmine (Cate Blanchett) has fallen from her Park Avenue lifestyle after her philandering husband Hal (Alec Baldwin) is jailed for financial fraud. Jasmine travels to San Francisco to live with her sister Ginger (Sally Hawkins) in a relatively downscale neighborhood. Popping pills and swilling vodka, the anxious Jasmine tries getting her life in order working as a receptionist, aiming to be an interior designer and starting a love affair under false pretenses. She also has a tense relationship with Ginger's uneducated boyfriend Chili (Bobby Cannavale); clearly Allen is paying homage to "A Streetcar Named Desire." Through flashbacks, Jasmine's passive complicity in her husband's crimes is gradually uncovered, a theme that recalls speculation about Ruth Madoff. While taking into account these moral issues, the film poignantly depicts Jasmine's downfall.