Carol (***)

CAROL attempts to be profound with the help of visual beauty and two terrific performances. There is so much to admire about director Todd Haynes' production, but in the end the movie left me feeling cold, unmoved, and perhaps more questioning of these characters' motivations than understanding.

It's 1950's New York, and we are introduced to our two leading characters. Therese, a quiet and oftentimes boyish girl who works selling dolls at a department store and drinks beers with the guys after a long day. It's a curiously similar role to the one Rooney Mara also played in "Girl With The Dragon Tattoo": she is fragile behind a strong facade, timid and yet confident. In many ways the movie is her story and perspective on meeting Carol, a high-class woman who wears furs and lives in a New Jersey mansion. Where Therese lacks confidence, Carol is bathed in it, ordering at a restaurant without so much a glance at the menu, inviting Therese to her house for the weekend without even knowing her.

The fascination comes from the underbelly of their beings and their reactions behind closed doors. Carol is anything but strong in her own home, as she fights a bitter divorce and custody of her only child. She clings to Therese if only for companionship during the holidays when otherwise she is alone. Therese explains her passion for photography, and Carol surprises her with an expensive trunk full of the newest technology and film. Therese accepts these gifts, this friendship, without hesitation. Her relationship with her boyfriend is crumbling, and her need for drastic change or perhaps a new life is with welcome arms at her meeting of Carol.

Like I previously said, the real beauty in this movie is the visuals. From costumes to cinematography, the look of the film rings true to a time gone by (as we know Todd Haynes is capable of, especially looking at another of his 'gay' themed melodramas "Far From Heaven"). Haynes has a control of the camera as though in a dream, with many shots through car windows or in the reflection on wet glass. Soft edges and moody lighting, one sequence in particular still stays with me in which Therese and Carol drive through a tunnel. Tell me that isn't one of the most astounding sequences in a film this year, one that captures the feeling of love with barely a word spoken.

The film opens and closes with a scene at a dinner table, where Carol and Therese talk (and we come to find later much time has passed). From first viewing to second, it's remarkable how much these characters have changed, and how my first impression of the dominant character was entirely wrong. The marvel of someone like Cate Blanchett (one of the great actresses today) is that she demands a presence on screen and so fully understands the emotion of any given scene. Rooney Mara has an equal (but nearly opposite) effect, but no less powerful.

I was not put off by the depiction of romance and love, but perhaps thrown off by the lack of understanding of these two women who progress against the grain of their society. The slow pace gave me time to soak up the look of the film, and yet it didn't help my appreciation of the grandeur of the story. Like the character, Carol is a beautiful thing to look at, and yet just below the surface are flaws and questions and mystery. Perhaps that's just the heart of a woman.