Carol

Directing his first feature film in a decade, director Todd Haynes returns to the era of his 2004 success Far from Heaven for another story of repressed love, only this one’s a little less Douglas Sirk and a little more Rainer Werner Fassbinder. A methodical, beautiful and often chilly film adapted from a Patricia Highsmith novel, Carol stars Rooney Mara as Therese, a 1950s shopgirl who locks on to the seductive gaze of lesbian divorcee Carol (Cate Blanchett, absolutely ravishing). While watching Sunset Blvd., one character remarks, “Right now I’m charting the correlation between what the characters say and how they really feel,” and you could make your own flow charts for Carol. The music, cinematography, costumes, sets and overall design are flawless, and the film as a whole is utterly exquisite. Maybe a little too exquisite—Carol is so painstaking, I felt like I was watching it from behind a velvet rope. D.B.