Carol (2015)

A film can be admirably made and clearly well constructed but really just not work for me at all. ‘I’m Not There’ blew me away as a highly ambitious film so I was really looking forward to Haynes’ new film ‘Carol’. But, in my personal opinion, this seems like a step back for Haynes as a filmmaker as this is a story that is nowhere near as ambitious as I hoped and in the end a really quite flat film with little impact to me. I think it’s a story that ultimately is one that doesn’t interest me at all, an affair plot line that never excels past there resulting in a weird nothing film that whilst looks beautiful feels very thin on top of that. Maybe I didn’t understand it and my expectations were too high but I was sorely disappointed by this film’s hollow core.

An interesting setting provides a nice backdrop to the film’s romantic plot, the focus is never on the location, instead manages to tell its story without being dragged down in the politics of the time. This is admirable to be able to single out a specific story without losing focus and damaging its narrative for a cultural analysis. The focus is on the characters in the time and showing a set off of circumstances that aren't often portrayed in modern media, creating a story about female agency and using the setting for specific narrative twists and moments. This would be really interesting if the story Haynes chose to tell was even slightly ambitious, an affair between two women in 1950's New York is still an affair story through and through. That was my major problem with the whole film, I found there to be no energy in the film's storytelling as I feel I've heard this story told so many times, obviously you might be a fan of this kind of narrative but it didn't engage me personally at all.

It seems really weird for Haynes not to tell a new and interesting story after how experimental 'I'm Not There' was, perhaps that film was too ambitious for mainstream audiences so he chose to create a toned down film with much less experimental aspects. That's not to say the film doesn't look beautiful, the cinematography is gorgeous yet occasionally quite inconsistent. There are some creative, meaningful and quite insightful use of colours and the production design to make some meticulous shots. But they never seem to establish much substance and occasionally feel pretentious for what they actually achieve, it is a shame because this cinematography could be used to illustrate a lot more than it really is. Of course this is completely subjective and may just not quite understand the purpose to a lot of it because I wasn't as gripped by the story as I should be. The world they have set up and established is a really interesting setting visually with some of the highlights being the costume and production design of the youth in the 1920s. Every detail is painfully beautiful, with a real focus on world-building to an incredible extent. But i really wanted much more symbolic visuals, the design was so perfect at creating realism that unless you contrast that with some amount of subjectivity it fails to feel purposeful.

Undeniably Cate Blanchett is a fantastic actor, she really shines through as the titular Carol. Her performance is subtle and realised as she struggles with identity and lust whilst the underlying conflict of love and motherhood is evident consistently. However the other protagonist, Rooney Mara as Therese feels weak compared to Blanchett's performance. I feel Mara comes off as a bit one note, the whimsical innocence becomes irritating after a bit and she never feels to have much agency as a character. I wanted more of her versatility that she has demonstrated repeatedly in other films. Her character arc is demonstrated as this subtle small development, which is a nice idea but since the film is slow paced without many moments of conflict, the end result doesn't pay off as much as Haynes thinks it does. The design of the 1950s is great, but the supporting cast feels weirdly obtuse for such a subtly beautiful world. None of them quite fit, the worst example is Kyle Chandler as Harge who's performance is unnatural and doesn't set up the intended core conflict. This could obviously be Haynes approach of making a political point about the position of men within this society, but that ultimately feels like a rushed idea attributed and distracts from the subtlety of the rest of the film.

'Carol' is a film that I ultimately feel didn't execute it's purpose as well as it should have done. Which ultimately makes it a lot more disappointing than a lot of worse films. There are elements that could work so well if Haynes just took a few more risks with what he is showing the audience. There is beautiful design, flawless visual aesthetic, a great performance by Blanchett and a subtle poignant score which would compliment a much better script. If I hadn't enjoyed I'm Not There' as much as I did, I probably would have more respect for the film, but I can see glimmers of Haynes' potential shine through but never feel as realised as I've seen before.