Movie review: Carol, the most surprising gift to each other

A woman attracts the attention of Therese (Rooney Mara) who works at a busy department store for Christmas in Manhattan, New York, in December 1952. She is Carol (Cate Blanchett), a well-dressed beautiful woman. She approaches Therese and asks her to recommend a Christmas gift for her daughter. Then, she leaves a glove behind.

Carol, released on Thursday, is a movie about love between two women who are the weakest and most isolated in the world at a time when people could not even talk about what lesbians are.

Therese is talented in photography but is not confident and does not have a good relationship with her boyfriend. Carol who suppressed her identity finally divorces her husband. Back then, a woman falling in love with another woman was a double whammy. They eat lunch together, visit each other’s home, and go on a trip with leaving everything behind them. However, they face the reality.

The first scene is their reunion at a cafe in a hotel and the last scene goes back to the first scene. Their emotions escalate with poetic conversations such as “So weird. You. Like you fall from the sky” and “(Having affection) is like physics: bouncing off each other like pin balls.” Though simple, accurate sentences attract audiences in the last scene in the café.

The film is based on “The Price of Salt,” a novel written by Patricia Highsmith, female thriller writer who wrote “Plein Soleil (Pure Noon).” The detailed and sophisticated descriptions of psychology increase tensions in the movie.

Without the two actresses – Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara – the movie would have been much less persuasive. Blanchett who played Carol who is uneasy, though elegant and reckless, is overwhelmingly attractive to men and women.

The melodrama is highlighted by strong but sad scenes reminding us of Edward Hopper, an American realist painter, a melancholic piano play mixed with Christmas carols, and dresses reflecting the time.

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