Best Actress in a Supporting Role 2013: Sally Hawkins in Blue Jasmine

Sally Hawkins received her only Oscar nomination to date for her performance as Ginger in Blue Jasmine. 

Blue Jasmine is a good movie about a divorced, neurotic, nearly broke middle-aged woman who moves to her sister's house in San Francisco in a desperate attempt to start afresh. It's not quite an amazing movie but among Woody Allen's recent efforts it's one of his best and his darkly funny screenplay completely deserved its Oscar nomination. The supporting cast is uniformly fine (except for Alec Baldwin who is rather dull in the role) with Bobby Cannavale being particularly effective as Ginger's rough boyfriend. 

From the first scene in which she appears, Sally Hawkins establishes Ginger as the exact opposite of Jasmine: she's a kind, generous and selfless person, and one who, unlike her sister, isn't very ambitious nor very glamorous. Hawkins and Cate Blanchett do a fantastic job in portraying the complicated relationship between the two sisters: on her part, Hawkins is very effective in showing that Ginger clearly loves Jasmine much more than Jasmine loves her - in their scenes together, Hawkins is tender, understanding, loving and willing to help, something than Blanchett's Jasmine never is. The screenplay suggests that Ginger has an inferiority complex and Hawkins does a great job in portraying that: she always shows an underlying insecurity and lack of self-confidence in Ginger and she's actually quite moving in suggesting in every scene that Ginger is trying to gain the respect and admiration of her sister who, instead, often looks down at her. This is particularly evident in the scenes in which Ginger is in the same scene with both Bobby Cannavale and Cate Blanchett: Hawkins clearly shows that Ginger loves Chili despite his lack of refinement but at the same time she portrays wonderfully her constant fear that Jasmine might not approve her choice. 

After Ginger breaks up with Chili due to Jasmine's unfavorable opinion of him, Sally Hawkins has her own, little subplot when Ginger embarks on an affair with a seemingly nice man named Al. Hawkins is again very good in portraying the excitement in Ginger as she convinces herself she has found happiness and a man whom her sister approves of, but her hopes are crushed when she finds out Al is married: it's a heartbreaking scene and her facial acting in nothing short of terrific. She portrays perfectly Ginger's crushed feelings as well as her growing disillusionement towards her sister, as Ginger finally starts to realize that probably what she truly wants is not what her sister wants for her.

Her best scene in the movie though is probably her final scene in whcih Ginger drunkenly accuses Jasmine of having spoiled her big chance to have a better life (Jasmine's husband caused Ginger's ex-husband to lose a great deal of money) and lashes out her resentment towards her. It's quite an amazing scene because over the course of the movie Hawkins built up to that moment perfectly and it feels completely earned. It's quite a devastating moment and Hawkins does a great job in portraying the bitterness and disappointment of Ginger but in the last few seconds of her performance she also portrays a newly found serenity and satisfaction in her life: she might not have everything she wanted, but she is ultimately happier than her sister. 

The movie itself is very similar to A Streetcar Named Desire but Woody Allen's version on the story focuses even more on the leading lady, leaving the other characters with not a great deal to do. So Blue Jasmine ultimately belongs to Cate Blanchett and none of the supporting characters gets too much focus on them but despite this limitation Sally Hawkins still gives a pretty great performance that never steals the spotlight from the leading lady but still manages to quietly impress while staying in the background. It's nothing groundbreaking, but it's a great turn that supports the movie with its moving honesty.

4/5