Carol

'Carol' is a fine film. The juxtaposition of the lavish costumes and production design with the grainy look of 16mm film sells the film's old-fashioned aesthetic. It is a well-shot film that is pleasant to look at. All of the individual performances are pretty good.

The best part of the film is the opening sequence. The credits play over a continuing shot of fifties New York accompanied by Carter Burwell's fantastic piece 'Opening'. This shot brings us to a scene in a restaurant. This is a flash-forward that we revisit later on in the film. Our first sight of the main couple occurs when a man at the bar looks around the restaurant and spots them at a table. In this shot, Therese (Rooney Mara) and Carol (Cate Blanchett) are sitting at a table. Therese is sat facing away from the camera and towards Carol, who we can see clearly. My immediate reaction to this sight was "Wow, Cate Blanchett genuinely looks like she's in love." It felt real.

Unfortunately, I didn't get this feeling from the rest of the film. I couldn't feel any chemistry between Therese and Carol. Mara and Blanchett do their best with what they are given, but they aren't given enough. Their characters don't feel fleshed out. I didn't feel like I knew them as people by the end. The film's technical achievements can only lift a film so high. If you love this film then I'm glad, but I can't love it when I couldn't grow attached to the characters. This is especially a problem as this feels like a film driven more by character than by story.

Despite what I have said, this film didn't bore me. Mara and Blanchett are both engaging actresses who command your attention even if they aren't given enough to work with. The film is on the slow side but it goes at the right pace for what director Todd Haynes and screenwriter Phyllis Nagy were going for. Overall, it was an interesting experience that felt a bit empty.

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Imagine how The Blue Angel Marlene Dietrich meets Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast At Tiffany's. Two goddesses in love affair. An essence and definition of love in its core distilled through different bodies and remaining a mutual enjoying of the heart. There is some cold classical feeling from the 30's in this movie, though it was set in the early 1950s in the McCarthy's era of witch-hunts. No answers are provided here and no stretched details. All is centred around Kate Blanchet and Rooney Mara.What you have to do is just to sit down,relax and enjoy the smoky narrative with a scarce dialogue.The 16 mm grainy picture, Sandy Powell's period costumes , cinematography and film editing from Edward Lachman and Affonso Gonçalves ,all well fitted in Patricia Highsmith's "The Price Of Salt" novel deliver a new conversation between the movie and the viewer. It's not about others but it's all about us. This message is truly important these days. No satisfaction in the sense and laws of tradition but how tradition have shaped us to rethink the history. As John Grant sings in Glacier "Don't listen to anyone, get answers on your own/Even if it means that sometimes you feel quite alone,No one on this planet can tell you what to believe,People like to talk a lot, and they like to deceive". There are echoes of other movies here such as the cold sentimentality of Savage Grace , Far From Heaven (from same director Todd Haynes) - another forbidden love story, Brokeback Mountain and A Single Man - both tragic waste of lives. Carol in some ways captures few finest moments from all these movies but as mentioned before it transcends one step further. It neutralises the bitter ends replacing it with hope. It's not the usual Hollywood hope but your own personal hope.It inspires you to decide,design and photograph your life. Don't wait,do it now!

Finally. FINALLY. This is the movie which completely overwhelmed my expectations and blew me away.

Romance is actually one of my favorite genres, but unfortunately it has let me down a lot more than once. Not the case with Carol. This has a strong possibility of being the best movie of 2015.

Therese is a woman working in a store who has an interest in trains and photography. But her hobbies is not enough to escape her boring and quite uneventful life. Carol has a wonderful daughter and is doing fine financially... but has an husband (whom she is trying to divorce) who won't leave her alone and makes her feel miserable.

These two people meet, and... they connect.

First off, the story itself is already incredibly captivating. It takes place during a time period where homosexuality was not only frowned upon, but there were even laws against it. So seeing the two of them facing struggles in order to keep in contact with each other is fascinating to behold. And it is because the love story is so damn beautiful. There is a lot of visual language. Eye contact and body language often speaks for itself. And it's excellently executed, as you sometimes know exactly how these two character are feeling without a single word spoken. And even the dialogue itself has subtlety to it. There are plenty of times where either Carol or Therese insinuate feelings by using seemingly casual sentences. "Your perfume... it smells good." is really just a synonym for "I want to kiss you". "Oh stop it, you look perfect!" can very well mean "I want to spend the rest of my life with you." The lines are not obvious giveaways and I love it. The audience gets to think for themselves.

But what really makes this movie work is the acting. It's absolutely amazing. Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara are at their best ever. They make the characters so real, so human, that you wish they actually existed. Kyle Chandler also throws in a remarkable performance as the husband. You root for the two girls... but you don't hate Harge either. There is one scene where he has gone so far as to get himself to the house Carol and Therese is staying at for the weekend. And when he's told he can't have her, I was really feeling bad for the guy!

I can't remember the last time I have been as touched by a movie. It hit my heart just in the right places, and when I walked out of the theater I felt like I had just experienced someone else's life.

Okay, the trailer revealed too goddamn much from the movie, so several important plot details I already knew beforehand. But even that couldn't stop the perfectly orchestrated ocean of emotions it bathed me in. Carol will stick to your brain like glue after you've watched it. Oh and the movie too ;)

I loved this film for the subtleties. Lots of lingering, carefully framed shots and closeups. Lots of quiet scenes. Lots conveyed through looks and innuendo.

Rooney and Cate captured what it's like to be nervous yet excited while falling in love. It felt real. It felt like two people unsure of themselves, offering up just a bit of their true feelings at a time and waiting for the other person to do the same before revealing more.

Kyle Chandler's performance hasn't been commented on as much as the leads, but he was just as excellent. He played the part of tortured husband well without coming off as a mere villain. I sympathized with him and even understood where he was coming from.

I thought the film captured the time period in a very unique way. Nothing was overtly flashy or Normal Rockwell 50s, and at times it even felt gritty compared to most depictions of the era, but it was really beautiful.

The film stayed with me on the ride home, and I drove in silence while I reflected on it. That's how I judge a movie. If you are the type that loves character driven films, I'd very much recommend it. If you don't handle slow burn movies well, it might not be for you.

Carol is a good film, with a very important subject, and the script never addresses it head on, rather with class, elegance and subtly.

It's a great love and life story about one woman fighting for her right to be happy and another trying to figure out how can she really be happy. Each of them is the answer to the other.

The script could feature more insight, but then again, the film is supposed to be subtle and let the images speak for themselves. The cinematography is outstanding and the score is downright superb. There's a feeling, a certain atmosphere that makes the film truly peculiar and one of a kind.

But in the end, i think that it all comes down to Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara, as they give unforgettable, brilliant performances. They are always perfect of course, but here there's something one of a kind about their performances. Its not only the characters that fall in love with each other, but also you who fall in love with them.

Its charming, important, powerful, resonant, and features two one of kind performances.