Plot: In 1950's New York, a store clerk named Therese (Mara) falls for an older woman (Blanchett) who is in the middle of divorcing her husband. The two women have to figure out if they can work together.
Thoughts:
2015 has been an odd year. It was bucking a lot of trends for the first 51 weeks. It took this last weekend to start checking off boxes for all the standard award season movie trends. With Carol,I have the movie that plays like it was designed to be a best picture nominee: the Oscar bait. I don't mean that as a pejorative. Last year, The Imitation Game was Oscar bait and I really liked that. Carol is this year's version of that, although the similarities end there.
If anything, this reminded me a lot of Brooklyn. It's a similar setting (New York in the 1950s). Rooney Mara is also on her own and working in a department store, when she is swept off her feet by this woman she meets. However, Carol is about both sides of the relationship, Mara's and Blanchett's. There's also the forbidden romance aspect which serves as the source of nearly all the tension.
Cate Blanchett is, no surprise, the stand-out performance. Carol is a woman with everything and could have an easy life if she wanted to lie to herself. The husband she is divorcing is still in love with her. She has a daughter she loves. She is very well off. Before the movie even begins, she's realized that that isn't enough because so much of it is a lie. She's only confident about how she feels and has no idea how that's supposed to work in that social climate. Rooney Mara is the main character of the movie in the Nick Carraway sense. She's the POV character, but so much of her story is internalized that she's not quite the focus. She does good work but isn't showy.
There's really not a lot to the story, as it's more of an actor's showcase. I won't go as far as saying that it's dull. The pacing is deliberate. There's emotional heft if you're willing to stay with it. The period setting looks great and the supporting cast does good work, especially, Kyle Chandler, the exasperated husband, and Sarah Paulson, Carol's confidant.
Elephant in the Room: Do you like looking through windows? I'm certainly harping on this more than it's worth, but they really love reflection and shooting through windows in this movie. I noticed it early and couldn't stop noticing. Director Tadd Haynes loves shooting scenes from the other side of a window. I get that it's tied to Therese being into photography, but they went to town with it.
To Sum Things Up:
Carol is a movie that does just about everything right without offering anything new. Blanchett is as great as ever. The story is just missing that last gear to go from good to great. I enjoyed it a lot without finding it very memorable.
Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend
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