Carol

I accidentally came across the novel Carol [Originally titled The Price of Salt] by Patricia Highsmith only a few months ago, not even realising that a film had been made of it, let alone that one was imminently due for release.  Recently [16/11/15], and again quite accidentally, I found myself suddenly in possession of free tickets to a preview of the film.  Carol, it seemed, was quite determined to meet me, in all of her various guises.

I say that, yes, because a novel is always a different experience to a film but also because the two Carol’s I’ve met recently seemed quite different people.  The story and characters in the book and the film are the same, the skeleton of it is all there but the flesh, the body shape of each, give quite a different impression.

I enjoyed the book.  I must say, at this point, as I think it has a bearing on things, that I LISTENED to the book rather than actually read it.  I have a two hour commute to and then from work, five days a week.  Four hours of my day sat on my rapidly fattening bum.  TWENTY HOURS A WEEK.  So… I find it hard to read when being jostled about on a double decker bus.  Additionally, the majority of my commute is through some rather spectacular Northumbrian countryside, hence, I’m often distracted from my Kindle by the daily changes in the landscape as the seasons slowly turn.  Enter Audible.  I’m now an addict.*  I can ‘read’ a book and still watch the changing scenery (which, often actually adds to the listening experience).  The only ‘downfall’, if I can call it that, of an audiobook, is that a narrator can instantly ‘read’ the tone and colour of a novel and it’s characters very differently than you would yourself.**

So, although both Carol’s were beautiful, well-off, society women with a guarded, repressed, nature, the filmic Carol, played by Cate Blanchett, has a warmth I didn't get from the novel.  I still liked the Carol in the book despite this seeming lack of warmth because, in the end, she loves... absolutely.  Still, Blanchett makes her infinitely more likeable than my Audible narrator did.  It’s a subtle but simmering performance.  The beautifully structured dresses almost bursting at their silky, hand-sewn, seams with hemmed-in passion, firmly state her class and social standing from the outset.  Blanchett is elegant, intense and taut.  The chemistry between her and Rooney Mara’s Therese bubbles just under the boil throughout and is utterly believable.

Mara’s performance is a master-class in innocent but confident understatement.  Whilst Blanchett floats around gracefully in her architectural dresses, Mara dashes about in much looser, freer, clothing.  Her youthful sexuality less corseted.  The costume design plays a huge role in the storytelling of this film.  We see Therese blossom from a pretty but dowdy shop-girl into a stunning New York press photographer, modern, independent and sassy in style.  By the end of the film she embodies Audrey Hepburn in all of her most iconic roles.

Todd Haynes’ telling of this story of forbidden love in the 1960’s is just gorgeous.  Every single scene is beautiful and authentic.  His direction of the leads shows a deft lightness of touch, letting what is not said say so much more than what is.  The music and editing seamlessly float us through this story, slipping and sliding us dreamily through this sixties lovescape.

I came out of the cinema longing for that kind of intense, wordless, love.

Carol is just a beautiful, beautiful, film.  See it.

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NB: I have one teeny tiny nit-pick… I just wish we saw a little more fun in lesbian love stories.  That’s it.  That’s the only ‘negative’ I can think of.

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* My faves are autobiographies read by the author’s themselves.  Stephen Fry, Tina Fey, Jennifer Saunders, Clare Balding, Malala Yousafzai, Miranda Hart, Amy Poehler, Celia Imrie,

** I started reading The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed… about a third of the way through I upgraded my Kindle version to an Audible version.  When reading the book myself I kept giggling out loud and thought it had a Wes Anderson sensibility about it.  I could see the quirky film in my head.  Upon changing to the Audible version… the more I listened the less I giggled out loud and the less I liked the book.  The narrator, to me, sounded like a primary school teacher reading a book to a bunch of 7-year-olds.  Patronising.  He made the writing seem childish rather than quirky.  Awful.  I reverted back to my Kindle for the final third of the book.  (Always play a sample on Audible before buying.  A bad narrator can kill a good book dead).