Review of Carol (1990) by Mike S — 30 Jan 2016

Carol is a slow-burning romance between two women, one experienced and one young and naive, in 1950s New York City. Carol (Cate Blanchett) is the older, experienced woman who knows what she wants and isn't afraid to go after it, even though she fully understands that same-sex attraction is seen as immoral and disordered. Therese (Rooney Mara) is the younger partner. She is attracted to Carol but doesn't entirely understand why. Therese is engaged to a man, but clearly has ambivalent feelings for him. Carol is married and has a daughter, and it is that relationship that drives the plot, such as it is. Her husband knows Carol prefers women, but doesn't understand why. They are in the midst of divorcing and the husband is using their daughter as a bargaining tool: stay with me and keep seeing your daughter; leave me and she's mine.

This is an acting tour-de-force for both women. Blanchett's Carol is upper class, educated, and confident, but still knows she's walking a dangerous line in her society. Rooney is the real star, though. Therese is curious but shy, confused yet eager to learn. The dialogue is relatively inconsequential, but the glances and the fleeting touches these two women give each other say far more than their mundane words. This is a love that you feel shouldn't work, for several reasons. They come from different economic spheres; they have unequal knowledge of the world; and Carol's family situation puts intense pressure on their relationship.

In addition, the believability of this romance hinges on accepting that a young, sexually un-self-aware woman would be instantly attracted to another woman she sees, literally, across a crowded room. There is more than a hint in this movie that 1950s lesbians can somehow identify each other without fail, even when they haven't admitted to themselves that they are lesbians. That struck me as unbelievable. But aside from that, this is an excellent movie if you like the slow dance of seduction.