Review of Far from Heaven (2002) by Lorenzo V — 13 Oct 2009

"What imprisons desires of the heart?".

In 1950s Connecticut, a housewife faces a marital crisis and mounting racial tensions in the outside world.

REVIEW.

Filmmaker Todd Haynes' valentine to 1950s melodramatic maestro auteur Douglas Sirk outdoes himself in grand style in the depiction of a Connecticut family's sudden downward spiral circa 1957 focusing on Cathy Whitaker (Moore in a sterling performance of Oscar caliber), a happy homemaker doting on her family and tv sales exec husband Frank (Quaid at his career best) who are both living lives of lies that threaten to destroy their seemingly blissful carefree existence in their all-too-knowing community. Haysbert as the local greens keeper hired by Cathy is also compellingly excellent in a sublime form of acting as the seemingly lone black man in a town of intolerance prickling beneath its calm demeanor. The exquisitely rich cinematography and production design by Edward Lachman and Mark Friedberg, respectively, convey the bristling darkness at the corners of paradise via suburbia with its rich autumnal palette suggesting a metaphor for the film as a whole: color changes everything. Kudos to elder statesman musical composer Elmer Bernstein's heartbreakingly poignant score underscoring the nightmare at hand. One of 2002's best films.