Let's talk: Carol

The british-american drama film, Carol, has been making waves since it received a reported standing ovation at it's Cannes Festival Premiere and has since only been applauded for a number of reasons. Carol, is a story about a love that happens too fast and too deeply but, in a time where this love is even more forbidden than today, trouble finds Cate Blanchett's Carol and her budding relationship with the young Rooney Mara who plays Therese Belivet. The problem with this movie is that while the film is named after Carol, she's really one of the least interesting characters. From Mara's inability to turn people down despite her obvious discomfort, Kyle Chandler who plays her borderline explosive ex-husband, or even her sometime brash childhood friend and former partner Abby played by American Horror Story's Sarah Paulson, are all a bit more interesting than the mysteriously poignant Carol. The hardest part of this film comes down to Therese "just go with it," attitude. In an attempt to run away from a life that's unfulfilled and the pressure to sail overseas and marry a man she has no real interest in, Carol represents a fantasized escape from her melodramatic day to day or less than stellar relationship and working retail. Through her "giving in," she experiences a new relationship with a woman for the first time, which sadly for them both cost Carol her young daughter as her husband, Harge, adopts a "if I can't have you, no one will, attitude," through an ugly divorce. The movie is aesthetically pleasing and Blanchett disappears completely into her character with such grace that you can't deny her ability as an actress but this film moves from one pretty but not very believable moment to another thus ultimately walking you by the hand to a cliff you'd want to jump off but it's not quite high enough from the ground to make the fall exciting. Either way, the film will most certainly see some Academy nods come this February but if you're looking for a rainy day film with not a lot of substance than this might be the one for you.