It’s been a very interesting year so far for Todd Haynes’ film Carol. Beginning at the Cannes Film Festival, it was feted as one of 2015’s biggest Oscar contenders, and throughout the festival season (including the New York Film Festival), that has more or less continued. The thing is, slowly the buzz has died down as more Academy Award hopefuls have been released, creating a more competitive market and perhaps making this movie a bit late to the party. It’s still a major player, but is it still a sure thing in the race across the board? Well, let’s talk about that a bit right now…
The film is a high profile adaptation a Patricia Highsmith novel called The Price of Salt and concerns the taboo relationship between two women in 1950’s New York City. One is young department store clerk Therese Belivet (played by Mara), while the other is an older married woman named Carol Aird (Blanchett). What starts as a friendship of sorts (though Carol seems to clearly be interested in more, with Therese more than just along for the ride) slowly blooms into something more, even if they can’t explicitly speak it out loud. From there, it’s a choice of whether or not to risk everything for love in a time where this was not acceptable behavior. The decisions that follow are not what you’d expect, and that’s putting it mildly. Haynes directs from a Phyllis Nagy screenplay, with the cast in addition to Blanchett and Mara including Kyle Chandler, Jake Lacy, John Magaro, and Sarah Paulson, among others. The score is by Carter Burwell, while the cinematography comes from Edward Lachman.
What works here, without question, are the aesthetics put forward by Haynes and the performances from the cast, in particular Blanchett and especially Mara, who is best in show. The script is a bit on the nose at times and the pacing is a bit lax, but Mara more than makes up for that. She will break your heart in two. Haynes definitely puts forward another authentically period film, both in terms of the look and the feel, but it’s the acting that sets this one apart. Carol is the success that it is because of the way Blanchett and Mara interact with each other. It’s a dance that works in a big way.
I do wonder if this would have been better served by hitting earlier in [...]
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