The Facilitating Dynamics of Todd Haynes' 'Carol' (Part I)

 

From eonline.com and youtube.com

As my film buff friend Nick Mastrini pointed out (by the way check out his blog herehttps://medium.com/within-and-without), Todd Hayne's magnificent (that's right, magnificent) Carol bears more than a few similarities to the 1940's David Lean masterpiece Brief Encounter. In a broader sense: those piercing gazes. Repressed passion, but here unleashed in one of the most sensual, beautifully directed sex scenes I've ever watched on film. Propriety. That stylized manner of dialogue delivery (Cate Blanchett quite clearly modelling her accent and demeanour in the guise of a more prim and proper Lauren Bacall/Elizabeth Taylor, Rooney Mara a spitting image of an even more tender, doe-eyed Audrey Hepburn). Those wonderful scenes technically static, sat across tables, limbs strung across a bed, or side by side in a car, finding so much movement within confined spaces, slowly allowing passion to flourish.

from telegraph.online.uk

What I want to look into more though today is the character dynamics. The whole aesthetic and craftsmanship of Haynes is remarkable and deserves an article in itself. Whilst watching the film I was taken aback by the presence Cate Blanchett's Carol carried herself with: confidence, assertion, like she'd done all this before. And she has, in a sense, falling in line with Trevor Howard in Brief Encounter if you lend yourself to a more pessimistic view of the character as a well-versed cad just 'playing' the role of the nice guy. What's remarkable with Blanchett's work here is the sheer comfort with which she carries herself into the role. There's no artifice to Carol's methods with Rooney Mara's Therese; it all feels so natural to the woman because no, she's not a cad, she's not an active manipulator. She's within her element with Therese through her attraction to her alone; she has the domineering dynamic because she is attracted to Therese. Contrast the warmth of her scenes with Therese, where she is allowed to be 'herself', to the scenes where she puts up the colder, more angrily emotive front to others. She's someone who's more feigned than lived life, falling in line with her presumable having been in the closet quite a while. She reminded me in more ways than one too of Brad Pitt in The Assasination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford: her sheer volume of presence as Blanchett the Star jus seeps into the role. She practically glows in certain scenes. Make no mistake about it this isn't one of those 'chameleonic' roles for Blanchett like I'm Not There. This is a full-fledged harnessing of her capabilities as a movie star, MOVIE STAR. And it's entrancing.

from vimeo.com

 

Mara's performance is probably the more complex one and if she were to be nominated in the supporting category come Oscar time...fraud, fraud, fraud. I mentioned Brief Encounter before and another point I'm going to come to here is the power of the gaze. More specifically, Mara's gaze. Her talents as an actress, like Celia Johnson's, lie so much in those piercing doe eyes of her. She's probably the most beautiful I've ever seen anyone on film in this film. There's that fantastic wardrobe of course, and of course Haynes' direction (Part II will deal with Haynes). If Blanchett was the equivalent of Pitt's Jesse James, Mara's Therese is the film's trump card a la Casey Affleck as Robert Ford. The seemingly insignificant face in the crowd, content with being a face in a crowd till come face to face with someone special. But while Robert Ford sought to make himself into an image of Jesse James, Therese admires Carol and sticks with that. Through the power of photography she doesn't become subservient to Carol, rather she facilitates that otherworldy quality to Blanchett's performance, while gradually finding increasing strength within her to break out of the 'face in the crowd' she's been wrongly piegeonholed as. She moves up the jobs spectrum. She finds more confidence in herself. When the affair is broken off she's the one who actively pursues a way to salvage it together and, not to spoil anything, takes the final initiative. Rooney Mara, if you don't win an Oscar this year, the Academy better have a good excuse. Sorry Ronan, Mulligan. We've got a new frontrunner in town.