Carol, movie review

Poster desing by Jeremy Saunders

Adapted from the Patricia Highsmith’s novel The Prince of Salt, Carol is a very loyal film to the novel successfully played with the leading roles of Cate Blanchet and Ronney Mara. One of her speeches Cate Blanchet says on Carol ‘’it is the first time love between two women did not end badly’’ which also shows Highsmith’s subversive and obsessive way of writing even in the back in 50s. The film signifies homosexual people’s struggle in a conservative society.

The plot is about two women encountering in a shop where Rooney Mara, in the film Therese Belivet, works and feeling attracted to each other immediately. However, it is 1950’s America and the things are not what we expect them to be, also Carol is going through a divorce with her suffocating and jealous husband, Harge. Just as the first two hundred pages of the novel, we do not see any kind of intimacy between our protagonists. On the other hand, the book is more concerned about the society’s way of looking to homosexuals, we mostly see how Carol’s husband reacts to her affair with their daughter’s godmother, Abby and the friendship between Carol and Therese.

In this way, their trip is important because it raises the chance of starting the relationship in a place where they don’t have any kind of attachment. Besides the timing matters, too. New Year must be a good start for them.

Their unique and innocence affection appeals to us so much that we immediately feel that sympathy and empathy for them. Honestly, I watched it thinking about how much Therese is innocent, sweet, young and inexperienced most of the time. Almost the best foil and the most opposite of her was Carol who is a decisive and mature woman with the side of her affectionate motherhood. As for their acting, I don’t think I am too well-knowing to criticize them in this sense but I found Cate Blanchet a bit dull for her character till the court scene even though I really loved the way she is critical about the norms of the time in many of her speeches. It may be because of her age and she should act like the time of the women. Every time I saw Therese I almost saw myself in some points and felt like she reflects her age and her role much more in the confidence of knowing how a young adult feels at the very beginning of life and herself.

Also the movie with its romantic and dramatic theme reminds me of a bit Danish Girl. Although we don’t see Lili acting too much objective and oppressive since she prefers living this in the inside on Danish Girl, I somehow matched the husband Harge and Lili. However, although Carol plays the role of the dominant role in their relationship, she never ever attempts to make her partner feel trapped in her process of making a career and so on. Since she goes through some of them in the same way such as her child’s custody issue and choosing a male life partner at first. In this sense we don’t really see good male figures, all patriarchal and close minded. Carol’s husband doesn’t play her role in their family as seen and obviously cannot see his wife as an individual with her sexual orientation and mind. Similarly, Richard, Therese’s boyfriend, doesn’t really seem to accept her situation and thinks she will regret it but he is not as oppressive and close minded as Harge, let’s say. We see problematic males in the movie whereas the succeeding and clever women who strive for themselves, in this regard I just loved it.

To speak specifically, the scene with the lawyers was absolutely stunning thanks to the acting of Carol. She almost summarizes the film, the situation and her thoughts. From this peak point on, she gets her life together and does all the things she can do in order to make everything better. So, for me it was the climax since it gets better and finally they end up just fine. As for the ending, I can say it was only a bit ambiguous but I loved the last plot twist of Therese.

To sum up, the movie was a brave and rightful production reflecting women’s life even today and I don’t think it deserves just 7.2 on IMDb when it is compared to those other films without any proper aim or story. It is realistic and successful but obviously not enough for the critics to give higher points than the destructive action movies of the popular producers where males take the whole place basically. And I honestly think that all the cast and roles deserved the every award they got.