Carol Review

One look speaks volumes. We can feel the desire emanating from the screen, the magnetic pull bringing Therese Belivet and Carol Aird together from across a crowded room. That type of moment plays out through the entire movie, each time growing heavier and lovelier as the two share fleeting touches and lingering glances. This is pure attraction, plain and simple, and it’s conveyed in a natural, tender, and deeply affecting manner.

At the center of it all are Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara, two brilliant actresses who make their characters’ relationship feel ever so real and yet ever so dreamlike. The two drift toward and away from each other throughout, but there’s an intense connection from the outset that never wavers. The relationship is mysterious and sensual, believable and intimate. The filmmaking is the same. Shot by Edward Lachman in grainy Super 16mm, the movie focuses on every little aspect of each character: the eyes, the cheekbones, the hands. Lachman is especially fond of shooting the characters through rain-soaked windows, capturing the way they might be able to look and desire even given an artificial, societal separation. There is thankfully a subtlety in the way the then-taboo relationship is handled, and we can feel the difficulties that can come with attraction, the difficulties in an environment that rejects that attraction at every turn. And yet, we can also feel the hope arise once that deep attraction is finally acted upon, the hope that culminates in the film’s beautiful, powerful final scene.

GRADE: A-

OTHER THOUGHTS:

-Sarah Paulson, Kyle Chandler, and Jake Lacy all do great jobs in supporting roles. I’d say there are maybe a few pacing issues regarding the way they’re brought into the picture, but overall, they help give a fuller picture of the two main characters’ lives. In particular, I’m so happy Coach Taylor is getting roles in so many great films.

Photo credit: The Weinstein Company, Carol

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