Loved the script, loved the cast, loved all the performances, but dear God, Cate Blanchett was so incredible I couldn't catch a breath. What a performance! So many emotions at the same time, so multi-layered, subtle and yet unbearable.... She takes a character one normally wouldn't really care about where she ends up to someone, who despite her tragic and repeated mistakes and the fact that she made her own bed, you send up caring about, you end up understanding her.
Blanchett took a huge risk with that emotionally exposing role and proved herself to be master and commander. If any other actress had played that role, it wouldn't even be half as good. Her theatrical background and experience is all concentrated in in Jasmine. Heart-wrenching, powerful and utterly vulnerable at the same time, cruel but simultaneously caring in her very own way...
It's the performance of the decade for me and one of the best of all times, a true masterclass.
And as Letterman told Blanchett when she was a guest at his show (not really a fan of his but what he said was totally true), even if he had directed the film instead of Allen, the result would still have been a masterpiece because of Cate.