Carol by Todd Hayness is a movie that was based on a romance novel from the 1950's. This film is is about two women, Carol Aird and Therese Belivet. These two women meet in a department store in New York where Therese works. They meet because Carol is looking for a christmas present for her young daughter and Carol asks her what she would want if she were a little girl. Carol is shopping for a doll but Therese tells her she she would never want a doll if she were a little girl, Therese recommends a train set and Carol takes it. She has it delivered to her house but Carol leaves her gloves at the counter that she checked out at. I think Carol did this on purpose so she would have a reason to see therese again. At the time this seemed like no big deal but later it seems like this was where the spark between the two happened. Therese, being a good person mails the gloves back to Carol using the paperwork Carol filled out in order to get the train set delivered. Carol is going through a difficult divorce at this time and she seemed to be attracted to the opposite sex as we find out later in the film. Carol receives the gloves in the mail and call the store that Therese works and requests to talk to Therese. She calls stating she "just wanted to say thank you for returning her gloves", but we know that was not the only reason. Carol offers to take Therese out for lunch without giving Therese a moment to decline. The two go out to lunch and learn a little more about each other, and it's clear that Therese is not in her place of comfort because she is a very closed person. Carol invites Therese to her home in New Jersey and they stop and get a christmas tree and therese takes pictures of Carol and they go about their way. Once they get the the house Carols husband arrives and starts to get suspicious of the two because Carol had an affair once before. They meet next at Therese's apartment and Carol surprises her with photographer gifts that include a new camera. But Carol has a larger problem on her hands, she discovers that her husband is requesting full custody of their daughter though a "morality clause" and she may lose her daughter completely. The support for this is that Harge, Carols husband is threatening to expose her homosexuality. Carol decides to take some time away from everything and go on a road trip, she asks Therese to go with her. The two head out on this trip and things start to get even more serious between the two. On New Years Eve is when things get really serious. The two get physical for the first time and discover the the traveling salesman that the two met was actually a private investigator Harge hired to expose the truth between the two. Carol has to much to lose and goes to her suitcase and pulls out a gun. She threatens the Tucker to give her the tapes, but Tucker had already sent them off to their rightful place. Carol fires the gun at the tape recorder but draws a blank. The two go to Chicago and try to figure out what has just happened. Therese wakes up the next day and discovers Carol has flown home to fight for the custody of her daughter and things get dicey. Compared to The Children's hour this film is far ahead of its time based on the time period during the film. "But Haynes’s genius is in the ways he taps into universal anxieties about love and relationships without ever letting go of the sense of imprisonment that came with being gay in the 1950s" (Sims). This was a huge part of the film because I was not expecting such actions from a film that was based in an older time. If this was a film in today's time this would still cause controversy but still be alright to put on the big screen, just as this film did. The consequences of their actions and what the two had to lose was never forgotten throughout the film because even though the two were doing their own thing, they never relieved themselves of what they left behind. This was a key feature of the film because this was a huge deal in the 40's and 50's and Haynes never let you forget what was at stake and what could happen if the world found out. “He’s known for shooting through windows, for using reflection. His work is impressionistic: these exquisite frames, and then that blown colour palette, muted overall with flashes of colour" (Leszkiewicz). The camera work and color of this film reflected exactly what was going on throughout. during the beginning of the film when Carol and Therese are in the department store I immediately knew that this film was not going to end well for anyone because of the color choices in the film. Every all the colors in the film reflected the mood, seriousness, and feel that Haynes was trying to get across. "The film’s cinematographer, Ed Lachman, was awarded the Golden Frog, the top award at Poland’s Camerimage Film Festival, which is devoted to the art of cinematography. The jury declared it a film of “aristocratic grace and elegance,” noting its “delicate and precise exploration of emotion through color and light” (Leszkiewicz). I think this award was rightfully deserved because I don't notice much during a film but even I noticed how much work must have been put into this piece of the puzzle. In all honesty, I think this film was extremely well executed. The way that you know exactly what these two ladies are up to based purely off the lighting was enough for me to like this film. And add in the fact that the film never lets you forget what they are doing and what the consequences would be is crazy. I honestly have never experienced a film that does these two aspects so well.
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Hey Maharshee,
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AuthorI normally only watch comedies and action movies so this should be an interesting change. Archives
May 2017
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