Carol

Todd Haynes’ first film in eight years is a worthy successor to his stunning pastiches of melodramas, Far from Heaven and Mildred Pierce. 

Based on Patricia Highsmith’s novel, published under a nom de plume in 1952, this tale of two women discovering their mutual attraction, as well as the impossibility of that attraction in conformist mid-century America, stars Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara.

Carol is a wonderfully nuanced portrait of two women whose different lives see them navigate the treacherous waters of romantic love in very different ways. Very much Hayne’s cinematic vision (fans of Mildred Pierce and Far From Heaven will see more references to the photography of Saul Leiter and the paintings of Edward Hopper), it also shows him making quietly subversive points about the personal and public cost of mid-century Sapphic romance.