Big Highsmith fan, so it was a given that I'd go to see 'Carol', adapting her tale 'The Price of Salt'.
Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara are very good, but perhaps just a little too mannered in their performances - Blanchett, particularly - for the subtle emotional brutality of Ms Highsmith's tale to translate. When Cate's emotional guard, and the veneer of '50s sophistication slips, she's superb. We see more of Mara's back-story, and the narrative is far more tilted toward her than it is the titular big-name, which allows her the opportunity to develop a more emotionally honest and credible characterisation.
Her film. She grows, Carol...doesn't.
Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara are very good, but perhaps just a little too mannered in their performances - Blanchett, particularly - for the subtle emotional brutality of Ms Highsmith's tale to translate. When Cate's emotional guard, and the veneer of '50s sophistication slips, she's superb. We see more of Mara's back-story, and the narrative is far more tilted toward her than it is the titular big-name, which allows her the opportunity to develop a more emotionally honest and credible characterisation.
Her film. She grows, Carol...doesn't.