Carol

Gosh, I've been looking forward to this movie for so long. Ages. I even read the book upon which it was based, The Price of Salt, back in May, and was constantly checking its updates on imdb. And boy was it worth the wait! I could launch into so many discussions right now, from its standing among canon LGBT films, its re-creation of 1950s America, how it is completely saturated with the style and culture of New York City... And yes, I'll admit, part of my excitement for this film in particular is that I have been starving for a good, i.e. not cheesy or overwrought, lesbian film/storyline that doesn't end in someone dying!

Cate Blanchett is stunning in her role. Outstanding. In her character, Carol's, first appearance she seems almost too glamorous to be real, far above the likes of Thérèse Belivet (played in a perfect depiction of shy, dazzled innocence by Rooney Mara). As the film progresses, Carol becomes painfully human through what we come to learn of her life and her struggles to work through an excruciating divorce, instigated by her "deviance from the norm", without hurting or losing her young daughter. We also learn a bit of Thérèse's life, her quiet passions for photography and music and a surprisingly headstrong nature that surfaces occasionally - when she is being badgered by the young men who are attracted to her and expect the norm: easy reciprocation. Life is, to cis hetero white men, a simple script.

One of the things I most enjoyed about this film is that, despite being able to glimpse certain crucial events in the lives of the protagonists, we never fully get to know them, their thoughts; we only see and feel their yearnings, as through a window. Both women are quite restrained in nature. Consequently, an enormous part of their connection is shown through their exchanged glances, small gestures; any more overt actions would have endangered them in the McCarthy era setting, when homosexuality was harshly stigmatized. But perhaps it was this wordlessness, in place of voiced exposition, that enabled me to relate much more strongly to this film than any others I've seen. In today's world of incessant communication, saturated with text, the strongest attraction I feel is to the little mute details provided by sight, touch, sound, scent. Thus, the last scene: not a word, just the exchange of a glance so silently powerful it still lingers in my mind, hours later.

And, no one dies!

As chance would have it, last night I watched Blue Jasmine, which also starred Cate Blanchett. (To be honest I chose to watch Blue Jasmine with the intention of catching up another piece of Sally Hawkins's work. She played a strong supporting cast, but Blanchett completely stole the show.) The film is loosely - or perhaps not so loosely - based upon one of my favorite plays, A Streetcar Named Desire. Blanchett plays Jasmine/Jeanette French, Woody Allen's New York socialite parallel to Blanche DuBois. Again she is given a glamorous role that almost immediately begins to tarnish; again, by the end of the film, she is painfully human. Unlike her role in Carol, words are integral to Blanchett's performance in Blue Jasmine. But in this film, the words she says are largely meaningless, helpless expulsions of sound and unplanned thought - almost as though she has Tourette's. Her character unravels with a similar tragic spiral to Blanche in the original play; she is also tortured by the brief possibility of hope that is then cruelly snatched away. Her descent from manic depression into outright delusion is heartbreaking.

I think had it been any lesser actress, Blue Jasmine could have turned out to be a horrible imitation of Streetcar - there were quite a number of scenes that could have been camp but Blanchett delivered very convincingly. Instead, the seriousness of her approach raises awareness about the harsh effects of mental illness rather than poking fun at its resultant eccentricities. I respected this decision very much.

Alright, those are two great movies. Go watch them. Highly, highly recommended.