CAROL

Remember the first time you fell in love? I mean REAL LOVE and not just a crush or something you knew would fade in time?  I remember mine well.  The man I fell in love seemed perfect.  He had a sense of humor, he was handsome and took care of me.  I mean REALLY took care of me.  He drew bubble baths for me, took me out dining to really cool restaurants and massages were plentiful…as was his undying attention to my every need.

So, you’re wondering what happened? Is he still in my life?  Did I marry him?  Did we marry and divorce?  Well, one never knows…do one?  What I will tell  you is THAT relationship changed my life.  It changed how and why I love and taught me to live life to the fullest every second of the day!!

Directed by Todd Haynes, “Carol” centers around a young department store employee who falls madly in love with an older, married woman in the 1950’s.

I’ve been a Todd Haynes fan all the way back to “Far From Heaven” starring Oscar winner Julianne Moore.  When Moore and Haynes teamed up again she took home the golden statue after numerous  past nominations.  Maybe teaming up twice will be a good luck omen for Cate Blanchett (who worked with Haynes in “The Talented Mr. Ripley”).

Blanchett, who in my opinion, embodies with every fiber of her being what it means to be a “movie star”, glows onscreen and takes command even when she is not uttering one single word.  The devilish complexity she layers Carol with makes you empathize with her for not being able to love who she chooses and how she chooses.

Rooney Mara makes Therese transform from a child to a woman right before our eyes.  The impish childishness that she inhabits Therese with is absolutely endearing.  However, when her heart is broken you watch her growing up out of necessity and not choice.  It’s absolutely phenomenal to watch.

Mostly having seen Kyle Chandler on television the last few years have been very kind to hi with “Friday Night Lights” and “The Wolf of Wall Street”.  As Carol’s husband, Harge,  Chandler is  a bully with a heart of gold.  He can’t stand the thought of his wife being with someone else, but he can’t seem to let her go knowing it’s what’s best for everyone involved.

According to one-half of Carol’s writing team, Patricia Highsmith’s novel (The Price of Salt) was inspired by a chance encounter she had with a blond woman in a fur coat that she saw shopping inside a department store in New York City, while she was working as a temporary sales clerk selling dolls, shortly before Christmas 1948.    She recalled completing the outline in two hours that night, likely under the influence of chicken pox which she discovered she had the next day, saying “fever is stimulating the imagination”. She completed the novel by 1951.

The plot for “Carol” is loosely based on the romance between Patricia Highsmith and Virginia Kent Catherwood (1915-1966), an older woman and Philadelphia socialite who had lost custody of her child in divorce proceedings involving taped hotel room conversations and lesbianism.

“Carol” received a standing ovation at its Cannes Film Festival international press screening/premiere and with 5 nominations, it is the most nominated film for the Golden Globes in 2015.