The Allen wrench

The new Woody Allen movie is slated for release shortly.

Blue Jasmine, is, as is a typical Allen movies, primarily the story of a woman, trapped inside, what Allen calls the "Greek cycle.".

He sees the Greek cycle--a life cycle in which both fate and free will determine a life's path from an acme to its nadir--in the fall of a super-rich housewife as earnestly as the Greeks saw in the kings and gods'. 

In Allen's own words, Blue Jasmine is the story of 

[A] very high Upper East Side liver” who “had a precipitous drop and had to downsize radically. [...] She went from someone with charge accounts every place and a limitless amount of money, virtually, to someone who had to shop in bargain places and even get a job.

A lovely piece on Woody Allen's reputation as the "woman's man," is here.