Review: Carol (2015)

My rating	IMDb		Rotten Tomatoes
	Critics	Audience	Critics	Audience
9/10	95/100	7.1/10	97%	Not available yet.

Numbers obtained from IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes on October 27, 2015.

I watched Carol at the New York Film Festival, days after watching Freeheld. Since both movies talk about love relationship between two women, I was afraid I was going to see the same thing. Gladly, I couldn’t be more wrong. Carol is such a beautiful movie, subtler than I had expected.

Based on the novel The Price of Salt, by Patricia Highsmith, the film takes place in New York during the 1950s and it tells the story of Therese (Rooney Mara), a department-store clerk who falls in love with Carol (Cate Blanchett). If a relationship between two women is still frowned upon nowadays, in the 1950s it was considered something completely immoral, so both of them don’t explicit their feelings for each other for a great part of the movie. To make matters worse, Carol is getting divorced from her husband (Kyle Chandler), who is threatening to obtain the rights to their daughter due to her immoral behavior.

Even though I loved the movie, I’m aware that it’s not for everybody. It’s not fast paced, as current films tend to be. It takes its time to carefully construct the characters and to make us root for them. Credit is due to the cast, as Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara are brilliant, and to the director Todd Haynes, who conducts well the story.

Moreover, the film is visually stunning, with impeccable make-ups and wardrobes, not to mention the beautiful locations covered in snow while they take a road-trip. Finally, the soundtrack is equally wonderful, with songs that correctly set the tone of their relationship.

It probably won’t be a box office hit, but I do hope everybody gets a chance to see it eventually.