Review 506: Carol

Carol is a beautifully crafted, wonderfully told romantic drama film bolstered by two excellent performances from Rooney Mara and Cate Blanchett. 

Based on the romance novel The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith, In New York City at Christmas 1952, Therese Belivet (Rooney Mara) is a clerk working in a Manhattan department store and dreaming of a more fulfilling life when she meets Carol (Cate Blanchett), an elegant and alluring woman trapped in a loveless, convenient marriage. As an immediate connection sparks between them, the innocence of their first encounter dims and their connection deepens. While Carol breaks free from the confines of marriage, her husband, Harge (Kyle Chandler) begins to question her competence as a mother as her involvement with Therese and close relationship with her best friend Abby (Sarah Paulson) come to light.

At its core, Carol is a story of forbbiden love; because of the 50s setting, it's incredibly difficult terain for the both of them to connect, consumate and ultimately live with their love. One of this films great strengths is in its portrayal of the struggles homesexual women faced in a time when those relationships weren't accepted and was strongly condemmed. Carol and Therese's love challenges conventions of the time as they deal with a society that disapproves of their realtionship. And the great thing about their realtionship is that its not stereotypical, it's portrayed as genuine without male interference.

 

Carol can also be interpreted as a coming of age story for both Carol and Therese. Both of them are at very different points in their lives but they're both deciding what kind of women that they want to be. What kind of lives they want to have and they're both deciding whether or not they're going to live by their turths. Carol is finding herself later on in life whereas Therese is finding herself early on in life.

 

Motherhood is also an important theme in Carol: Throughout the film, Carol struggles to maintain both her romantic relationship with Therese and her love for her daughter Rindy. 

 

Carol is also about Truth: The value of Truth inside ourselves and whether we follow that truth or deny it from ourselves.     

 

To quote Justin Chang's Variety "despite their obvious differences in class and background Therese and Carol seem to ease themselves and us as an audience so 
They meet each other almost by accident.

Todd Haynes' direction is sensitive (opening the film with a one take tracking shot   Another thing that Haynes and his his regular DP, Ed Lachman do really well is reflections. There are so many shots that give this peopled landscape that's refelected by all of this iconography of the era giving it an almost pale ghostly shadow to what's going on in the rich interior life of the characters.

 

effectively establishing a sense of alienation for Therese through a series of shots showcasing rushing crowds on a rainy day, the cinematography is gorgeous and captures the beauty of New York in the early 50s, the production design (recreating New York in the early 50s) is fabulous, the costumes are colourful, the score by Carter Burwell is simply beautiful, the make up is rich and beautifully detail. The props are excellently crafted
The Christmas backdrop also provides a sense of warmth, romance and tragedy 

Rooney Mara and Cate Blanchett are fabulous in their roles as Therese Belivet and Carol Arid respectively.

Carol as a society woman with everything to loose.

Kyle Chandler playing Carol's husband Harge. He doesn't have anyone to go to talk about how to properly deal with this. 

Sarah Paulson is fabulous playing Abby Gerhard, Therese's best friend 

5/5.

The Anonymous Critic.