“Carol” is not just one of the greatest queer movies of the year; it's one of the most atmospheric and beautiful depictions of New York City in the 1950s ever put on the silver screen. Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara play searching, repressed romantics who find love with one another and contend with the suffocating social mores of the era.
Director Todd Haynes is no stranger to gorgeous films about the past: He also gave us “Far From Heaven,” where Julianne Moore combated racism and stifling domesticity in 1950s suburban Connecticut, and “Mildred Pierce,” the HBO adaptation of the James M. Cain novel that substituted Kate Winslet for Joan Crawford, who starred in the 1945 film version.
We talked with Haynes about how he captured such poignant romantic drama in “Carol,” a movie that brings us two fully formed characters who are utterly captivated with one another.