Far From Heaven: A+
by Neil Fauerso
Sweepingly melodramatic, jaw-droppingly gorgeous,
and massively sad and romantic, Far From Heaven is one of the best
movies of the year. Maverick Todd Haynes (Safe, Velvet
Goldmine), whose cinematic
path is arguably the most unusual and under-appreciated of any young filmmaker,
has recreated a Douglas Sirk melodrama with such impassioned fervor that he
inverts the past.
Cathy Whitaker (a staggering, luminous Julianne Moore) is the perfect
housewife with the perfect family in the perfect time (1950s). And while
we’ve heard this story before and know it will crack, Haynes and
Moore infuse a special sense of sincerity that makes the film almost heartbreaking
from the first frame. Cathy’s life is shattered quickly when she
learns her husband Frank (Dennis Quaid, in undoubtedly the performance
of his career) is gay. As her marriage falls apart, Cathy falls for her
black gardener, Raymond (Dennis Haysbert).
Haynes goes beyond pinpointing the stifling rigidity and racism of the
50s. By making the characters so whole and getting such magnificent performances
from all of the players, he both broadens the predicaments to a universal
sense of alienation and questions the “progress” we take for
granted.
The movie is nearly flawlessly put together. The narrative is pristinely
pieced from instances, and the color shifts and set design in the movie
do more than just create an absolute mood—they are the visual soundtrack
for the character’s psyches.
Far From Heaven is a tremendous achievement, free of irony or
kitsch. Many critics have said that Haynes has made a movie that
shouldn’t
really exist. The fact that it does is a miraculous gift.
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