New York, 1950s. A department store shopgirl in Manhattan, Therese Belivet meets the gaze of Carol Aird. As she picks a gift for her daughter, this lonely, upper class woman trapped in an unhappy marriage turns Therese’s life upside down. The two women soon meet again and forge a more intimate relationship, despite the risks of such love in the eyes of those close to them in the puritanical society of the times...

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Carol is reminiscent of Far from Heaven, the old school melodrama starring Julianne Moore that earned director Todd Haynes an Oscar nomination for Best Screenplay. It is magnificently staged, illuminated by the work of director of photography Ed Lachman and the performances of Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara). The emotions of the movie are a match for the times they are set in, when love between two women was fraught with danger and feelings were shown only in code. Haynes captures this mood, in which conflict that dares not speak its name rages mainly on the inside. Critically acclaimed at the Cannes Film Festival (Best Actor for Rooney Mara) and nominated for six Oscars (including two for actresses), Carol is a beautiful movie by a film director with undeniable talent, and a memorable encounter between two outstanding actresses.