'Carol' review: Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara shine in tale of forbidden love

• Critic's rating: 4.5 stars out of 5
• Cate Blanchett is outstanding as a woman in an unhappy marriage infatuated with a younger woman
• Rooney Mara, as the younger woman, is even better
• The film is beautiful, with Haynes creating a realistic world beautiful on the surface, harsh below

"Carol" is a simple story that sneaks up on you.

Todd Haynes takes such care in the telling of it — and the gorgeous depiction of it — that it's impossible not to be moved. Cate Blanchett is outstanding as a married woman who falls for a younger woman. As that younger woman, Rooney Mara is even better.

Haynes’ direction, with his meticulous recreation of the outwardly lovely world of New York that is in fact repressive just below the surface (and sometimes above it), may be the most impressive element of all.

Therese (Mara) wants to be a photographer, but right now is working the toy counter over the Christmas holiday at a large New York department store. One day, Carol (Blanchett) comes in to shop. Therese helps Carol with a delivery order, and they chat. Carol leaves her gloves behind. Accidentally? On purpose?

Whatever the case, it’s reason for the two to see each other again. Therese is dating Richard (Jake Lacy), who is desperate to get married. Therese is in no such hurry. Carol is married to Harge (Kyle Chandler). They have a daughter, but the marriage is crumbling, gone south ever since Carol’s affair with her friend Abby (Sarah Paulson).

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The film begins with the two women sitting at a table for a drink in a hotel bar. We will see the same scene repeated (though not simply replayed) near the end of the film, and the context will be wholly different. By then, we will have come to know them, what they have enjoyed, what they have endured, the entirety of what they’ve been through.

The film, based on Patricia Highsmith’s novel “The Price of Salt,” is set in the 1950s. Harge and his old-money family have the typical reaction to any evidence of being gay then: Carol is crazy and an unfit mother. So Carol has to play along at being a wife; perks include living in a mansion in the suburbs, all the fur you can wear and a beautiful daughter she and her husband both love.

But Carol is unhappy, and her attraction to Therese is immediate and intense, as is Therese’s to her. But they must, as befits the times, dance around their feelings. A lunch and a drink here, a visit there.

Finally, a trip, together. Richard is irate, Harge left in the dark and Abby cautious. But the passion between Carol and Therese can finally be acted on (in a place called Waterloo, which can’t be an accident). But there are elements of both sadness and danger here (Abby is for all intents and purposes living out, and knows about that).

The performances are flawless. Blanchett’s Carol is a jumble of status and confusion, privilege and stunted longing. Mara shows us Therese’s curiosity and willingness to follow her desires while never being a pushover. She’s innocent but not naive.

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Haynes creates the world they are living in, with its beauty and cruelty, in perfect detail. Everything seems to be in its place, until it’s not — things that look too good to be true usually are. Love has limits here, harsh ones. “Carol,” in its meticulous, mannered way, shows us that, too.

Reach Goodykoontz at bill.goodykoontz@arizonarepublic.com. Facebook: facebook.com/GoodyOnFilm. Twitter: twitter.com/goodyk.

'Carol' 4.5 stars

Director: Todd Haynes.

Cast: Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, Sarah Paulson.

Rating: R for a scene of sexuality/nudity and brief language.

Note: At Harkins Camelview at Fashion Square.

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