Love is like a drug to all species. The need for love, care and affection is one emotion that fuels our hopelessly romantic hearts. And, when it comes to movies, we all are major suckers for love stories. While classic boy-meets-girl-falls-in-love is something one would pick over a masala entertainer, we like our love stories that traverse the forbidden paths.
There’s nothing more alluring than watching a story of two lovers whose paths cross, but their love by societal norms is somehow not meant to be. Watching them tread those proscribed paths, and seeing love victorious is what humble human hearts crave for.
First gifted in the form of a novel, The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith, we were then treated to an adapted version of an unconventional story directed by Todd Haynes in form of Carol. And, Carol Aird (Cate Blanchett) was no ordinary woman of the 50s.
She was stronger than anyone; one who dared to love a woman knowing it well that it was a time where people were not open to the idea of a lesbian relationship she had with an aspiring female photographer, Therese Belivet (played by Rooney Mara).
It was an age when even the label of a divorcee meant gawking eyes and hushed-voiced discussions. So, a woman loving another, that too one much younger than her meant more mudslinging. Going through a difficult marriage and an even more difficult divorce, Carol found moments of relief in Therese’s company. Losing a child’s custody due to a morality clause, sounds harrowing. But, Carol was willing to put up with it.
Theirs is no ordinary story and the period drama captured that in beautiful manner. The perfect, colourful-yet-detailed shots brought 50s alive on screen and set against it was Carol’s and Therese’s love. While Carol knew what she wanted and accepted what she craved for in a bold manner only Cate could’ve essayed, it was Therese’s struggle to coming to terms with her sexuality that grips one’s attention more.
Every time a shot would pan to Carol, you would skip a heartbeat, because that’s how she is: The most beautiful woman in any room. As for Therese, you could be a part of her internal struggle of discovering her carnal desires.
One watch at the film and you will fall in love with it. That’s the effect it has on you. It’s not only us who’s immensely impressed by the film, but has garnered global acclaim by critics. The film received a ten-minute standing ovation at Cannes Film Festival and has to its name 85 awards and honours.
That’s just a fact. But we have to laud for the Haynes’s vision, which was painted beautifully on the screen. That was a different time, with different etiquettes, with a different notions borne in the minds of the people in that age. But’s it’s with Carol’s story, you can feel the other side of love.
Wondering how does her story end? Well, I would leave that for you to experience it, because it needs to be witnessed first hand. Words will never be able to express the ranging emotions.
Bringing us Carol’s other side, and the complexities of a lesbian relationship, is &Privé HD on the December 3, 2017 at 1 p.m. and 9 p.m.
It the unconventional story you have to watch this weekend.
Image Courtesy: The Weinstein Company