CAROL REVIEW
Carol is a wonderfully emotional romantic-drama based on a
book called ‘The Price of Salt’ by Patricia Highsmith. Set in New York City
1952, the film tells the story of a young aspiring photographer (Rooney Mara)
and her relationship with an older woman going through a difficult divorce and
child custody battle (Cate Blanchett).
Both Rooney Mara (Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) and Cate Blanchett
(The Lord of the Rings, The Aviator) absolutely captivate audiences with their
incredible performances. The chemistry between the two on-screen is undeniable from
the opening scene and it makes the film a pleasure to watch from start to
finish. Cate Blanchett gives a career best performance with her character,
Carol Aird, exuding a certain eroticism with every glance and movement. Her
attitude and demeanour is quite peculiar and can only be explained by the
oxymoron of being nervously-confident. I know it doesn’t quite make sense but
it is how I felt her character carried herself especially whilst in the company
of Rooney Mara.
Although Cate Blanchett is unquestionably fabulous, she is
receiving almost all the praise from the critics but the film is about love
between two people and Rooney Mara deserves as much of the credit as Blanchett
for the success of this movie. Her performance as the young, innocent shop girl
couldn’t be more on point and contrasts perfectly with the sexual maturity of
Blanchett. These characters are so believable and lovable that I can’t imagine
them being played by any other actresses.
The music of the film is crafted perfectly to the film with
a mix of an original score by Carter Burwell and songs and music from period of
the film. I even recognised one or two songs from the Fallout series for you
gamers out there, as if Three-Dog himself was the DJ. In all seriousness
though, the music felt right with every scene and it only ever enhanced the
emotion of what was happening on screen.
It's an inevitability that Carol will face categorisation as
an LGBT film, but that's not the limits of how it should be considered. It's
simply a heartfelt and deeply human love story where the principle couple
confronts insurmountable odds. In Carol's case, these obstacles are the
prejudices of the time and culture they live in. The film frames this
discrimination in a tangible and legal way, as the titular Carol is accused of
a morally indecent lifestyle by her ex-husband in order to win custody of their
daughter. The film isn't interested in being a courtroom drama though, instead
focusing on the blossoming relationship between Rooney Mara's Therese and Cate
Blanchett's Carol.
Carol is not only one of the best films I have seen this
year, but it is definitely the best romance that I have ever seen. I do have a
bit of a ‘thing’ for Cate Blanchett so I may be a little biased but there is no
doubt in my mind that Carol deserves all the universal acclaim it has received.
10/10
No comments:
Post a Comment