From the melodrama of Far From Heaven to the multiple personas in I’m Not There, Todd Haynes has never been content merely to explore the inner turmoil of his characters. Nor does he crudely use cinema to explain the weight of societal pressure. His work is far more complex and subtle.

As a director, Haynes is a past master at playing with both form and function. He uses dramatic elements and visual tropes alike to explore the chasm that lies between the outward expressions and the internal realities of individuals and their emotions.
His highly accomplished, thoughtful direction ensures that this often necessary, but also frequently destructive, conflict is embodied powerfully onscreen. It is an approach that feels all the more important in Carol, an adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s tale of two women who fall in love, at a time, in the 1950s, when their love could be their undoing.
Cate Blanchett stars as the titular Carol, a woman enduring a bitter divorce and custody battle with her husband. She becomes romantically involved with Therese (Rooney Mara), an aspiring photographer and sales assistant.
The two women embody not only different stages of life, but different phases of societal oppression. Therese, all youthful hope and naiveté, has yet to feel the crushing force of homophobia and the systematic erasure of her desires. All thirsty eyes and hungry heart, there’s a raw naturalism to Mara’s performance. Her Therese is pure emotion, eyes frequently filling up with tears, her hesitancy to express herself constantly battling with her desperate need to reach out, to be touched, to be loved.

Carol is more experienced and therefore more cautious. It is not just her impeccable outfits that are carefully styled. Her persona is one of rigorous control that veers between genteel manners and a pantomime of ladylike respectability that initially feels jarring, as it contrasts harshly with Therese’s earnestness.
But all is not as it seems. The complexity of Blanchett’s role and the innate elegance of her character are allowed to slowly unfurl, keeping pace with the transformation of Carol's emotions. She is a woman who has compartmentalised both her public image, and her private desires, as a mechanism of survival. In realising that she is falling in love with Therese, Carol begins to reconcile these aspects of herself, but the process is as painful as it is fulfilling. By allowing herself to feel, Carol is not only opening herself up to heartbreak, but also to the fear of discovery – thereby risking the loss of everything she has.
Haynes captures this milieu of concealed emotions and layered identities by filming his lead actresses through panes of glass, capturing them in reflections and through frosted windows – often shooting from a distance to signify the characters’ hidden motivations and, most of all, their abiding sense of disconnect from a world that doesn’t accept them. Shaped by brilliantly modulated performances by Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara, as Carol and Therese discover a circle of safety and acceptance in each other, the camera slowly pans in, eventually capturing them in intimate close-up.
As the stakes for Carol become higher, the film embraces the thriller elements of Highsmith’s novel. The heaviness of the plot can occasionally feel oppressive. But this too complements Haynes’ political vision; he has created characters so engaging, and a love story so tender, that we feel their frustration, when the external world encroaches upon it.
In a year when we’ve only just recognised same-sex marriage, Todd Haynes’ film is a revelation. The film combines exquisite artistry with a deep sense of humanity. It succeeds not only by making his notoriously radical directing style feel politically queer, but also by presenting such vitally important themes in a beautifully romantic, emotional light.
Meanwhile, it is as well to remember that we still have so much work to do, to promote the rights and well-being of the LGBT community not just in Ireland but across the world. Against that backdrop, Carol is a truly striking cinematic achievement, artfully exploring themes that resonate still with powerful force today...

CAROL, directed by Todd Haynes and starring Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, Sarah Paulson and Kyle Chandler has a running time of 118 mins. In cinemas now.
Five/Five