REVIEW: Carol

Hello cinema lovers. Carol is the film against which every other lesbian period drama should be measured; its quality is above reproach. Gentleman Jack was done with more joyful abandon, but Carol gives us icy sapphic magnificence. A top cast in fine form delivers the goods, and Cate Blanchett has never looked better.

Carol Aird (Blanchett) is an elegant, striking, unhappily married woman drifting through a New York divorce; think of an older, gay, more sophisticated Betty Draper from Mad Men. Therese Belivet (Rooney Mara) is a young department store clerk who wants to be a photographer, but her life hasn't quite kicked into second gear yet.

They meet across a toy counter at Christmas in a wonderfully filmed scene. Carol leaves her gloves behind. Therese mails them back. An invite out for lunch leads to romance.

That's the main plot really. Two women falling for each other against a backdrop of a private detective, a messy custody battle, and an entire culture of American intolerance trying to stop them. Sarah Paulson turns up as Abby, Carol's ex-lover and close ally. Kyle Chandler is Harge, the handsome, idealised 1950s husband, all wounded entitlement and straight privilege in a great suit.

Blanchett is doing some fantastically controlled acting here. Her Carol talks in an affected way, always slightly adjusting herself for whoever's in front of her, codeswitching to fit in. It's an effective portrait of a woman managing her own image in 1950s America.

Mara has the tougher character to portray; she barely speaks in the first act. She watches; she emotes through her big eyes. Mara lets interior struggles show up in her face before the character has the words to express herself. Watch her hands; great physical acting.

Director Todd Haynes uses silence more than dialogue in this production to great effect. Haynes is an exceptionally talented director who cares about the lives of gay people from decades gone by. His previous work on Far from Heaven shows an interest and a deft hand highlighting American attitudes towards gay people in the 1950s. Carol is better than that movie but only just. This movie is really filmed in a grounded, textured atmosphere. All rain on glass and cigarette smoke.

Adapted from Patricia Highsmith's The Price of Salt, this film refuses to moralise the marriage breakup storyline. There's no breakdown. No self-loathing speeches. This is not an "issue movie". This is a drama about a love story between two women, and its considerable fallout.

Carol and Therese don't agonise over being gay. The desire between them is shot straightforwardly. The New Year's Eve scene shows an intimacy between two adults coming together, no tasteful fade to black standing in for something some films would be too coy to show. And the ending is a subtle triumph.

There's a reason Carol sits differently than Brokeback Mountain on the queer cinema shelf. Brokeback was set a decade later but dwelled in what can't be had. Carol asks what it costs to be truly happy. Carol trades her rights as a mother for the cost of living honestly. Framing the film as a stark account of what gay mothers of the time were forced to sacrifice

If there's a criticism, it's that the film's overwhelmingly controlled atmosphere can come across as glacial, almost aloof in its tone. This is a film about repression and formal restraint, but sometimes you want it to be more emotional than it allows itself to. And it's a movie that requires patience, and the plot is a little slow in parts. However, it compares well to Desert Hearts from 1985 as a positive representation of a lesbian romance. A high-quality, stylish drama with an amazing cast. Carol is an excellent film. recommended.

Carol is available to stream now on Amazon Prime, Sky Store or Apple TV.