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Far from Heaven

 
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Far from Heaven

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  • AMG Rating: starstarstarstar
  • Genre: Drama
  • Movie Type: Melodrama, Period Film
  • Themes: Crumbling Marriages, Race Relations, Suburban Dysfunction
  • Director: Todd Haynes
  • Main Cast: Julianne Moore, Dennis Quaid, Dennis Haysbert, Patricia Clarkson, Viola Davis
  • Release Year: 2002
  • Country: US
  • Run Time: 107 minutes
  • MPAA Rating: PG13

Plot

Maverick director Todd Haynes embraces the look and feel of classic Hollywood melodramas of the 1950s in this period drama. Cathy Whitaker (Julianne Moore) and her husband, Frank (Dennis Quaid), are a seemingly perfect couple; living in a handsome suburban neighborhood in Hartford, CT, in 1957, Cathy and Frank have a beautiful home and two happy, healthy children, while Frank pursues a successful career in sales and Cathy cares for the home. But Cathy has begun to sense something isn't quite right in her marriage, as Frank begins working late, spending less time with her, and seems cold and distant. One day, Cathy visits Frank's work and discovers something she never expected -- her husband is kissing a man. At Cathy's urging, Frank undergoes psychotherapy, but as she tries to keep up a brave face, the emotional trauma takes a great toll on her, and she finds there are very few people she can talk with. Cathy strikes up a friendship with Raymond Deagan (Dennis Haysbert), an African-American gardener who works for the Whitakers, and as she discovers how intelligent and compassionate Raymond is, she finds herself drawn to him. However, Hartford is in many ways still a small town, and when Mona (Celia Weston) sees Cathy and Raymond alone together, it sets off a wave of vicious gossip that threatens to make the Whitakers' many secrets public knowledge. Far from Heaven premiered at the 2002 Venice Film Festival, where Julianne Moore's performance won the prize for Best Actress. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Review

Douglas Sirk became a cineaste darling for making 1950s weepies that were as passionate as they were ironic, reveling in gleaming surfaces and big emotions while telegraphing their hollow core. Todd Haynes's exquisite Far from Heaven captures the Sirk mood to perfection from the moment the first pristine images hit the screen. A reinterpretation of All That Heaven Allows (1955), with a dash of Imitation of Life (1959), Far from Heaven gets every detail right, from the well-appointed, expressively lit homes replete with imprisoning screens and shiny mirrors, the Technicolor foliage that matches the crisp '50s women's fashions, and the tasteful dissolves to Julianne Moore's Hollywood finishing-school elocution and the violin crescendo at a moment of crisis. Though Haynes nods once or twice to the camp possibilities in his retro vision, the performances in this gorgeous homage pulsate with genuine feeling. Moore shines as the content wife who resists looking through the surface of her life yet has the soul to grasp the alternatives therein, while Dennis Haysbert reveals that the noble black man also has a touch of humor along with the sensitivity and wisdom. Dennis Quaid's closeted husband cracks with anguish, but his underlying aura of white male privilege illuminates the greater suffering inflicted on Moore within the gilded society cage guarded by her pitch-perfect "best friend" Patricia Clarkson. Even with Haynes's potentially over-determined message about prejudice, Moore's fate at Far from Heaven's less-than-happy end honestly earns every tear. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
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Wikipedia: Far from Heaven
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Far From Heaven

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Todd Haynes
Produced by Christine Vachon
George Clooney
Steven Soderbergh
Written by Todd Haynes
Starring Julianne Moore
Dennis Quaid
Dennis Haysbert
Patricia Clarkson
Viola Davis
Music by Elmer Bernstein
Cinematography Edward Lachman
Editing by James Lyons
Distributed by Focus Features
USA Films
Release date(s) November 22, 2002
Running time 107 min.
Country United States
France
Language English
Budget $13.5 million (est.)
Gross revenue $29,027,914

Far from Heaven is a 2002 drama film written and directed by Todd Haynes and starring Julianne Moore, Dennis Quaid, Dennis Haysbert, and Patricia Clarkson.

The film tells the story of Cathy Whitaker, a 1950s housewife, living in suburban Hartford as she sees her seemingly perfect life begin to fall apart. It is done in the style of a 1950s, Douglas Sirk film (especially All That Heaven Allows and Imitation of Life), dealing with complex contemporary issues such as race, sexuality and class.

The film was nominated for several Academy Awards: for Best Actress in a Leading Role (Julianne Moore), Best Original Screenplay (Todd Haynes), Best Cinematography (Edward Lachman), and Best Original Score (Elmer Bernstein).

Contents

Plot

Set in suburban 1950s Connecticut, the film is about Cathy Whitaker (Julianne Moore), the perfect wife, mother, and homemaker. Cathy is married to Frank (Dennis Quaid), a successful executive at Magnatech. The film begins when Cathy gets a phone call from the local police and her husband is put on the line. He says it's all a mix up but they won't let him leave alone. Cathy is preparing for her annual party with her best friend, Eleanor Fine (Patricia Clarkson). One day, Cathy spies an unknown black man walking through her garden. He turns out to be Raymond Deagon (Dennis Haysbert), the son of Cathy's late gardener.

Frank is soon being forced to stay late at the office, swamped with work. One evening, however, we see him enter a bar. Meanwhile, Cathy and Raymond develop a friendship. On one particular night, when Frank is working late, Cathy decides to wrap up his dinner and take it to him. She walks in on him passionately kissing another man. Frank confesses having had "problems" as a young man, and agrees to see psychiatrist Dr. Bowman (James Rebhorn) in the hope of being "converted back" to heterosexuality. His relationship with Cathy is irreparably strained, however, and he turns to alcohol. Unable to comprehend the destruction of her marriage, Cathy turns to Raymond for comfort. She sees him at an art show, where she spends much of her day talking to him, setting the town ablaze with gossip.

As Cathy sees her once idyllic world falling apart, she begins to fall in love with Raymond, and their evident relationship has unpleasant consequences for him and his daughter. At the same time, Frank, unable to suppress his homosexual desires, falls in love with another man and seeks a divorce from Cathy.

Cast

Style

Far from Heaven is made in the style of many 50s films, notably those of Douglas Sirk. Haynes created color palettes for every scene in the film and was careful and particular in his choices. Haynes emphasizes experience with color in such scenes as one in which Cathy, Eleanor, and their friends are all dressed in reds, oranges, yellows, browns, and greens. Haynes also plays with the color green, using it to light forbidden and mysterious scenes. He employs this effect both in the scene in which Frank visits a gay bar and when Cathy goes to the restaurant in a black neighborhood.

Haynes also uses shots and angles that would have been standard in Sirk's films and era. Cinematographer Edward Lachman created the 1950s "look" with the same type of lighting techniques and lighting equipment (incandescent), and employs lens filters that would have been used in a 1950s-era melodrama. The script employs over-the-top, melodramatic dialogue, and Elmer Bernstein's score is reminiscent of those he had composed 40 and 50 years earlier.

In the commentary, Haynes notes that he was also influenced by Rainer Werner Fassbinder's film Ali: Fear Eats the Soul.[1] As in Fassbinder's film, in Far from Heaven Haynes portrays feelings of alienation and awkwardness. For example, instead of cutting to the next scene, Haynes sometimes lingers on a character for a few seconds longer than comfortable to the viewer, the same technique used by Fassbinder.

Another notable feature is when Cathy drives her car through town. Rather than filming inside the car as it actually moves, the car is filmed still with artificial backgrounds seen through the windows, reminiscent of older films.

Awards

Far From Heaven was nominated for 4 Academy Awards. The film was nominated for over 100 other awards and won approximately 30 of them. In the Fourth Annual Village Voice Film Critics' Poll, Far From Heaven was voted the best picture of 2002.

Notable awards

Academy Awards

Nominations

  • Best Actress in a Leading Role - Julianne Moore
  • Best Original Screenplay - Todd Haynes
  • Best Cinematography - Edward Lachman
  • Best Original Score - Elmer Bernstein

Chicago Film Critics Association Awards

Wins

  • Best Picture
  • Best Director - Todd Haynes
  • Best Actress - Julianne Moore
  • Best Supporting Actor - Dennis Quaid
  • Best Cinematography - Edward Lachman
  • Best Original Score - Elmer Bernstein

Nominations

  • Best Supporting Actress - Patricia Clarkson
  • Best Screenplay - Todd Haynes

Golden Globes

Nominations

  • Best Actress in a Leading Role (Drama) - Julianne Moore
  • Best Supporting Actor - Dennis Quaid
  • Best Screenplay - Todd Haynes
  • Best Original Score - Elmer Bernstein

Independent Spirit Awards

Wins

  • Best Feature
  • Best Actress - Julianne Moore
  • Best Supporting Actor - Dennis Quaid
  • Best Director - Todd Haynes
  • Best Cinematography - Edward Lachman

National Board of Review

Wins

  • Best Actress - Julianne Moore

New York Film Critics Circle Awards

Wins

  • Best Film
  • Best Director - Todd Haynes
  • Best Supporting Actor - Dennis Quaid
  • Best Supporting Actress - Patricia Clarkson
  • Best Cinematography - Edward Lachman

Online Film Critics Society Awards

Wins

  • Best Actress - Julianne Moore
  • Best Supporting Actor - Dennis Quaid
  • Best Original Screenplay - Todd Haynes
  • Best Cinematography - Edward Lachman
  • Best Art Direction
  • Best Costume Design - Sandy Powell
  • Best Original Score - Elmer Bernstein

Nominations

  • Best Picture
  • Best Director - Todd Haynes

Screen Actors Guild Awards

Nominations

  • Best Actress - Julianne Moore
  • Best Supporting Actor - Dennis Quaid

Writers Guild of America Awards

Nominations

  • Best Original Screenplay - Todd Haynes

Soundtrack

Main article: Far from Heaven (soundtrack)

See also

References

  1. ^ Far from Heaven DVD commentary track

External links


This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 

 

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