Carol

What it’s about:

This film is based on Patricia Highsmith’s (The Talented Mr. Ripley) iconic 1952 novel named The Price of Salt. It tells the love story of a woman who works in a department store and a housewife who could stop traffic with her effortless style. The former figuring out what she wants to do with her life and the latter in the midst of messy divorce. 

What we thought:

Much like good sex this movie slowly builds to a thrilling climax. It’s not just about the satisfying ending though. There are ups and downs and lots of dramatic tension.  There are a lot of moving technical parts relating to direction, cinematography  and character development that I could unpack but I think that what I walked away saying is how incredibly Cate Blanchett plays Carol. 

She took what is literary legend and pushed it into the stratosphere of Scarlett (Vivien Leigh) in Gone with The Wind or Meryl Streep’s Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada. A powerful woman at odds with a world that is always ten steps behind her, patriarchal currents constantly trying to change her.

 I mean Rooney Mara (Therese) does well in her role and delivers a great performance but to me, what ties this movie together and makes it a classic, is Carol (Blanchett). Todd Haynes (Velvet Goldmine) builds/directs a world that is romantic and melancholy all at once. Like what you think of when you imagine road trips through America, complete with little diners and kooky characters. 

I know that I am putting my head on a block when I say this but I’m going to be a little brave and say that I see at least one Oscar in this film’s future. Maybe for Cate Blanchett and perhaps even for the movie as a whole, but I am well aware that this will an intergalactic battle for the top spot. 

And now for the part that a lot of people have been talking about the sex scene: I mean it’s a love story so I am not spoiling much when I tell you that this is the point when everything picks up. It is so well done and not gratuitous at all (cough cough Blue is The Warmest Colour). It was everything that I wanted it to because it felt like a natural progression between two people that love each other. 

You should watch this film if you enjoy being transported to a different world. If you want to get that butterfly feeling in the pit of your stomach then maybe watch this film. If you’re over watching movies about cars and men rescuing woman from danger then maybe this film is for you.  

All I’m saying is that I am telling everyone I meet from the woman who takes my order at McDonald’s to the man who was innocently getting coffee next to me this morning to please watch this film.