Carol

Patricia Highsmith is known for her psychological thrillers, the first being Strangers on a Train which was adapted for the screen by Raymond Chandler for Alfred Hitchchock. Her second novel was one without a single murder or any violence whatsoever but it is not without suspense or obsession.

The novel was originally titled The Price of Salt (later published as Carol). Highsmith published it under the pseudonym Claire Morgan because she did not want to be associated with the content. In 1953, publishing a novel about psychopaths and murderers was acceptable but a novel about homosexuality was not as well received.

Highsmith's story comes to life in Carol, directed by Todd Haynes (Far From Heaven and I’m Not There) who is known for his provocative films and subversive protagonists. Carol is no different.

The world of Carol is beautifully and seamlessly saturated in 1950's aesthetics. The 50s are everywhere you look whether it’s a private dinner party, a smoky newsroom, or a dimly lit street. Big gas-guzzlers drive down Manhattan streets and women stylishly sip cigarettes. You are never once allowed to forget where you are but you never get lost either. It’s a beautiful surface hiding an ugly reality. Behind the chestnut fur coats, perfectly curled hair, and manicured pink fingernails is a world full of intolerance and repression.

The film begins with a young man walking into a restaurant where he spots two women dining together. He recognizes his friend Therese Belivet (Rooney Mara) sitting across from a woman he does not know named Carol (Cate Blanchett). In the eyes of the restaurant patrons, the two come across as friends enjoying each other’s company but with one touch of Carol’s hand against Therese’s shoulder, the tenderness between them is obvious.

Most of the film takes place as backstory. Therese pals around with her friends (all male) including her sort-of boyfriend Richard (Jake Lacy) who she treats more like a friend than a lover. She is not shy or timid, in fact, she is like most young woman in her early twenties: eager, passionate, and ready to fall in love. In the novel, Therese’s dream is to begin a career as a theater set designer. In the film she is an aspiring photographer which seems to be a standard for women in film.

Mara discards any remnant of severity and indifference left over from her portrayal of Lisbeth Salander in David Fincher’s The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo to perfectly portray the young, passionate, and inexperienced Therese Belivet. Mara holds her own the best one can while being continuously contrasted against the idyllic screen presence of Blanchett. She is fully believable as a young girl lost in a sea of social pressure and tedious day-to-day routines. Though Therese is a young woman who has not yet found out who she is, Mara never loses her idealistic, eager, and bold nature. She loves to love and she wants to pour all of herself into someone but is unable to. Therese is not a girl coming out of her shell but a young woman realizing what she truly wants. However, Mara is not the star of the show.

Therese first sees Carol in the department store where she works as a shopgirl. Carol is elegantly dressed in a fur coat with perfectly curled gold hair. Carol is complicated, sophisticated, and mysterious at first. Blanchett appears on screen looking almost out of place in real life. In Therese’s eyes, she is absolute perfection. Carol is the sort of woman who knows exactly what she wants but she can’t have it. She wants a divorce from her husband, Harge played by Kyle Chandler (NBC’s Friday Night Lights) but can’t have it without losing her daughter as well. She wants to be with Therese but society forbids it. Blanchett ensures that we know exactly what Carol wants without ever voicing it. When she is with her husband, her voice is laced with indifference. When she is with Therese every word and movement is nuanced with attraction and charm.

Slowly, we begin to see Carol’s real, challenging, and unpleasant life. She fights with her husband, over a past relationship with her friend Abby Gerhard played by Sarah Paulson (FX’s American Horror Story), she suffers through custody battles, and is forced to smile through mundane dinner parties. Carol is not as put-together as we think and Blanchett manages to reveal the character’s true self without losing her intoxicating quality. Blanchett’s elegantly polished acting style is perfect for the role. Carol is also an actor, pretending to be a comfortable socialite and affectionate wife. The novel does not provide such insights so the Carol we see on screen goes from being an idealized version of herself to a vulnerable, real-life woman in love.

The film passes the Bechdel test with flying colors. Therese and Carol each have their own narrative arc though both of their lives are somewhat tied to a man. The film does not, necessarily, take a stand for homosexuality as much as it takes a stand for love. None of the women identify as lesbians and they never speak of their affection for each other as anything other than love and attraction. Therese is simply a young woman who is still trying to understand the world but is ready to fall in love and Carol is a woman knows exactly what she wants when she sees it. Neither of them are in any need of labels. They are simply women.

Carol is anything but a “lesbian” film despite the focus being on two women in love. “Lesbian” films are often accompanied with the same overbearingly explicit sexuality. The women in these films are often forced together without any development in their romantic relationship and are only together to please the men in the audience. Carol is different. Sure, Carol’s sex scene goes on for a few moments too long (as most sex scenes in film often do) but the film is not burdened with it. The film is not a vehicle for pornographic love scenes created for men—it is a love story. A chick flick in its true form. Carol proves to be a rarity within its genre by focusing primarily on romantic relationship between them instead of the sexual.