Todd Haynes ? Yeah I remember him . Something of an auteur when it comes to independent film making , but just because someone is an auteur it doesn't make them superior to the journeyman type of director . Indeed auteur can defined as "A director who is somewhat unimaginative in telling a visual narrative" . He also directed SAFE one of the most frustrating films I've ever seen . With CAROL Haynes directs a film featuring a lesbian love story . As the opening credits rolled I also found out it was a Film 4 production . Todd Haynes , lesbians and Film 4 Productions . I don't want to sound like George Dubya Bush but if there was such a thing as an axis of film evil this might just be it
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I'm very surprised then as to how much and how quickly CAROL drew me in to the story . Of course it's somewhat predictable in the early stages with a young shop worker Therese noticing and becoming infatuated by an older woman called Carol but everything is done with a deft , delicate slightness of touch it's difficult not to be caught up in the story . This is down to Haynes and the two protagonists played by Rooney Mara as Therese and Cate Blanchett as the titular Carol . It's rare that I see a film where an actors expression says a thousand words but you're able to instantly see thought and subtext being portrayed without a single word being spoken . It's also rare for a film nowadays to be poignant without lapsing in to manipulation and grief whoring
It's not perfect . It gets a bit melodramatic towards the end and the slow languid pace will undoubtedly put some people off but it's not a film produced for the local multiplex . Likewise if the protagonists had been a middle aged straight man and a hetrosexual young woman we'd have an entirely different and possibly as unlikely story but let's appreciate CAROL for what it is - subtle Oscar bait material that might just surprise the Oacar board in 2016
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