Review: Carol

Rooney Mara plays Therese, a NY department store clerk in the 1950s, who is unfulfilled and indecisive in her life. In to her store walks the glamorous older woman Carol (Cate Blanchett), and although the latter is married it’s clear that there’s an immediate attraction. Before long they are embarking upon a relationship, though Carol’s marriage to Harge (Kyle Chandler) and societal attitudes in general start to get in the way of their happiness. Sarah Paulson plays Carol’s former lover and most trusted friend Abby, while Jake Lacy and John Magaro play wannabe suitors for Therese. Cory Michael Smith (The creepy, nerdy Ed Nygma from TV’s “Gotham”) has a small but important role I’ll leave for you to discover.

 

Todd Haynes (“Velvet Goldmine”, “I’m Not There”) previously tried and failed at 50s Douglas Sirk melodrama with the overrated “Far From Heaven”. That film was pretty, but it tried to have its cake and eat it too, by blending sentiments of both the 50s and the modern era wrapped up in a stylised 50s melodrama. It played awkwardly, like a failed experiment that never seemed real nor pulled you in. This 2015 flick from the director and screenwriter Phyllis Nagy (who only has one previous credit to her name as writer-director of a TV movie) isn’t quite the same thing, being based on a Patricia Highsmith novel, not a Douglas Sirk tribute. However, it’s still set in the 50s and has some melodrama about it. This time, Haynes takes a more straightforward and less stylised approach, doesn’t really let modernity come into the picture, and the film is all the better for it. It’s a stunning-looking film, sure, but without the wanky self-indulgent arty devotion to a bygone filmmaker. It’s a 50s story done in the new millennium, but with a straightforward period piece style. That helped me at least get into the story, not being distracted by all the bells and whistles, let alone any confusion as to what era the voice of the filmmaker/storyteller is coming from.

 

I’m not normally a Rooney Mara fan, but she absolutely nails it here and is far and away the best thing about the film. Timid, clearly lonely, and not terribly worldly, through Mara’s excellent performance it’s easy to see how this girl gets all wrapped up by the seemingly more glamorous older woman played by Cate Blanchett. You really feel for this girl, who is quite clearly going through an awakening of sorts. There’s a little bit of Talia Shire in “Rocky” to this character and performance if you ask me, I’m not sure if I’m the only one seeing that, though. I can say with more certainty, though, that Mara definitely has an Audrey Hepburn look to her here, which is interesting given the latter’s participation in the landmark gay film “The Children’s Hour”. I must point out, though, that Mara was nominated in the wrong Oscar category for this film. There is no way she isn’t the lead here, but I guess the studio worried that putting both of its stars in the same category would split the vote. In the end it didn’t matter because neither won.

 

Blanchett, for her part, is perfect and really seems to flourish in this 50s era milieu, fitting it like a diamond-encrusted glove. Yeah, I just used milieu in a sentence. I hate myself a little bit. A perfectly cast Kyle Chandler and Sarah Paulson also make the most of their few moments on screen with solid performances. Although this is a film that is set in an earlier time, the one break with the times is with the film’s ending. I couldn’t be happier with the way this film ends. It’s not entirely conclusive, but it definitely suggests a break from tradition with stories of gay life from this period. I was actually quite overjoyed by that alone, even more so when learning that it’s actually in the book, too.

 

Although the fog-stained windows are a bit too much, this is a much more subtle period movie from Haynes. Somewhat different from the usual story Patricia Highsmith is known for (her stories have been turned into such thrillers as “Strangers on a Train” and “The Talented Mr. Ripley”, both excellent films, especially the former), and she wrote it under a pseudonym so as not to be pigeonholed as a writer of ‘gay fiction’. This is pretty much a love story, possibly with autobiographical elements, and if anything it reminded me a little of “Brokeback Mountain”, thematically. I think this may be the slightly better film, too. Impeccably acted, it’s one of the better films of this type without being melodramatic, corny, or over-stylised. It makes me want to check the novel out, as well.

 

Rating: B-