Carol Review

2015 has seen the rise of a higher level of tolerance in society as nations such as Ireland and more importantly the USA have legalised same sex marriage. As we come to terms with where we are now Todd Haynes’ Carol offers a glimpse of where we used to be.

                Set in 1950’s New York, Carol, based on the book The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith, tells the story of Therese Belivet, a young shop worker who falls in love with an older woman and starts a relationship that threatens to change both of their lives forever. It seems like an entirely fresh and new idea to depict a romance between two women, enhanced further by their gaps in age, what’s impressive about the film is how it doesn’t become a film about a lesbian love story; it’s just a love story in a classic sense that treats its characters with respect.

                Given its period setting and the fact that it’s a love story, others will draw comparisons with the works of Douglas Sirk, but the sensibilities of Todd Haynes are far from that of Sirk. Sirk’s films operated with a rich colour pallet and tonally can be best described as melodramatic. Carol feels the exact opposite. In terms of capturing its period setting it’s got the things you’d expect from 50’s set films in terms of costumes and sets and hairstyles, but more so than that is the brilliant way it captures the atmosphere of the 50’s, the colours feel stripped back, nothing is over the top and every single person on screen, regardless of their billing, feels like they belong within that frame. Some films such as American Hustle try to capture the period by raiding the costume and wig closet, Todd Hayne’s feels like he’s put the effort in.

                Unlike Sirk also, Carol definitely doesn’t operate as a melodrama. The film operates in a brilliantly real tone, but Haynes still manages to be incredibly expressive whilst working within this style. The story plays out in a conventional manner, and though in parts it feels like it might waver off into a different film entirely; it’s always aware and pulls far away from that movement.

                Despite a couple of very small characters that border on caricatures or 50s pastiche, the performances are what really make this film. There are great roles for Therese’s friends who feel so at home in the 50s setting you’d swear they’d just wandered out of a bar with Jack Kerouac and Allan Ginsberg. There’s a small but important role for Sarah Paulson as Carol’s friend who holds most of the information about Carol’s ambiguous past. Then there’s Kyle Chandler who plays Carol’s husband, it’s a much more interesting role than just the angry 50s husband, despite their crumbling marriage he does still really love Carol and is making constant efforts to keep things together for the sake of appearances at business parties and trips to his parents’ house, though he’s occasionally angry in scenes, for the most part he just feels emasculated by Carol beginning to explore her sexuality.

                Supporting roles aside, this is basically a 2 hander with 2 damn fine hands at that. Rooney Mara as Therese is a revelation, saying that about an Oscar nominated actress seems like an odd thing to say, but she really does come into her own in this film. She plays Therese as this wonderfully curious person, in every room she seems like the most innocuous person but also the most interesting. Her interest in photography seems like a cliché character trait that’s appeared a thousand times before, but the film just manages to get away with it because it doesn’t detract too much from the Therese as a whole. Her naivety and bewilderment at her love for Carol is sweet and her innocent nature is what attracts Carol to her, Carol describing her at one point as a “strange girl, flung out of space”. Then there’s Cate Blanchett in the titular role. Blanchett is extraordinary, showing why her full name is 2 time academy award winner Cate Blanchett, and after this film maybe even 3 time winner. Carol is a woman who flirts with Therese in the sultriest manner, with porcelain skin gorgeous lips, a vodka martini in one hand and a cigarette in the other, Carol’s seductiveness is somewhat akin to the sultry sirens of the golden age of cinema. However for most of the film this personality that Carol adopts is a mask for the insecurities that lie behind it, there’s a sense that every time she turns away from Therese she’s terrified of the repercussions her love will have on her.

                The film isn’t sexless either, which is important. Being so comfortable with its sexuality the film portrays the sex as passionate if not overly explicit. In comparison to a film like Blue is the warmest colour which featured sex scenes that felt exploitative and were so long that they bordered on leery, Carol earns the right for to the moments of sex, so that by the time it comes along the film deserves it as much as the characters do.
                There are few directors that share the sensibilities that a director like Todd Haynes has, there are few actresses that can feel as genuine as Blanchett and Mara, and there are few films like this that can manage to be both a classic love story and feel modern at the same time. With Carol, Haynes as created a film that feels both timeless and timely, love is a beautiful thing in all its many forms, a testament that this film is truly exemplary of. (5 Stars)