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| Carol; Lesbian movies | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Feb 2 2016, 03:43 AM (866 Views) | |
| mlbach | Feb 2 2016, 03:43 AM Post #1 |
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Keys for the handcuffs!
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I'm surprised that no one has started a thread to discuss the movie Carol. So I'm going to. IMHO: Great movie. Great acting, wonderful adaptation from Patricia Highsmith's book of the same name (aka The Price of Salt). Beautifully staged love scene. Happy ending (which, considering the time it was written--1952-- is effing amazing). Really, you gotta see this film (you know who you are...) Thoughts? Comments? Rants? |
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| mlbach | Feb 2 2016, 02:22 PM Post #2 |
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Keys for the handcuffs!
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And how about the movie poster with the yin/yang positioning of Carol and Therese? Love it! |
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| cagey | Feb 14 2016, 03:20 AM Post #3 |
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G3 Curtain and Duvet!
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i hope you get a conversation started here. This film draws a variety of responses from lesbians I've talked with and many of them of sort of tepid. Reading an interview with the screen writer in which she says in the film's world lesbianism is the norm, it struck me that this may be why it is difficult for some women to find a hook to draw them into the film. I loved the style, I think the screenplay improved upon the book and the actors were great. Ultimately I think it is almost more feminist than lesbian thematically - two women who by their encounter become better defined, bolder, stronger and more independent. |
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| mlbach | Feb 14 2016, 04:42 AM Post #4 |
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Keys for the handcuffs!
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I hope we can get a conversation going. I was beginning to wonder if no one saw the movie, or, having seen it, had nothing to say about it. I agree that the film is an improvement on the book. The book had some creepy elements. Well, it was written by Patricia Highsmith (Strangers on a Train, The Talented Mr. Ripley), so I guess some creepiness is to be expected. And I like that the character of Carol is more fully developed instead of just seen through Therese's point of view. I hadn't thought about it being more feminist than lesbian, but I think you may be right. Both characters do grow as a result of their relationship. I've read that screenwriter Phillis Nagy actually met Patricia Highsmith and corresponded with her for the last 20 years of her life. And she's a "member of the lodge, of the family." Director Todd Haynes? Gay. OMG--what's not to like about this film? ETA: I'm mistaken. Phyllis Nagy knew Patricia Highsmith for the last 10, not 20, years of her life. Edited by mlbach, Mar 28 2016, 01:36 PM.
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| mlbach | Mar 16 2016, 02:57 AM Post #5 |
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Keys for the handcuffs!
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In an article in the March 15, 2016 Guardian: "Todd Haynes atmospheric lesbian love story, Carol, has been named the best LGBT film of all time in a top 30 list that stretches back to 1931..." Full article at: www.theguardian.com/film/2016/mar/15/carol-named-best-lgbt-film-of-all-time |
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| aj57 | Mar 20 2016, 04:06 PM Post #6 |
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We saw the movie too. It was shot beautifully and captured the time very well. Unfortunately, we were not as invested in the characters themselves as we would have liked to be. It reminded me of Brokeback Mountain that way, where two people you didn't know much about met, were attracted to each other and started a relationship without much of the buildup one would like to see, as happened in Bad Girls, though with Bad Girls they had more time to explore the characters build up the relationship, since it was a television series. |
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| mlbach | Mar 20 2016, 06:49 PM Post #7 |
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Keys for the handcuffs!
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I found myself relating to the characters in Carol much more than in Brokeback, plus in BM you had the usual same-sex love story unhappy ending. There's not many happy ending movies to choose from, but in terms of movies where no one is killed, how would you rate Carol? Up against a movie like, say, Desert Hearts? |
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| cagey | Mar 20 2016, 10:31 PM Post #8 |
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G3 Curtain and Duvet!
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I think you are spot on with your comments. It is a beautiful movie, very interesting in the choice of framing and direction, but I didn't care for the characters in the book and while in the movie they are much improved, it is still very hard to get past the essential coldness of the romance. And that's why I prefer to see it as a lesbian coming-of-age story about Therese. I frankly didn't care if the ending was "happy" in a romantic way. I would have been fine with Therese walking away from the Carol option and going forward into her new found lesbian life. In fact, I think I would have preferred that. The more I contemplate the film the more I find Carol herself to be desparate and sad rather than mysterious. She is trapped in a visual box for most of the movie. Her statement of independence in the lawyer's office seems to free her more than her desire for Therese. About that list though. That is some crazy list of "best" films. First, I do wish "they" would stop lumping gay male films with lesbian films. We are talking 2 very different genres. Who are these "100 experts" and in what is their expertise? Film making? Lesbian Stories in film? Titillation for the Male Gaze? As usual, the point of the "top 30 or 50 or 100" is just to provoke folks into disagreeing. |
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| mlbach | Mar 29 2016, 02:17 PM Post #9 |
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Keys for the handcuffs!
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What you say about Carol the character is true, but her statement in the lawyer's office is, I think, a direct result of her relationship with Therese, so it is a coming of age for her as well. And now that you mention it, that list, and all such lists (Oscars etc ) are kind of a guy thing, more specifically, a Western culture guy thing: create a heirarchy where none exists, nor even should exist. I haven't even looked at the fecking list-- I merely referred to it in a clumsy attempt to keep the conversation going.
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| mlbach | Jun 23 2016, 04:16 PM Post #10 |
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Keys for the handcuffs!
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I didn't see much of the Tony awards, but I did see part of James Corden's monologue, including the part where he said that the Tony's are like the Oscars with diversity ETA: #Oscarssowhiteandsostraight Edited by mlbach, Jun 24 2016, 12:21 AM.
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| ElspethR | Jul 25 2016, 02:33 PM Post #11 |
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Up to Basic
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I can't believe I missed this. I'd been waiting for a Carol discussion. I read the book and saw the film more than once, and I have mixed views.... I think I put mine best here https://elspethr.wordpress.com/2016/03/06/carol/ Any thoughts to that? I got stuck on their nails and fringes. Will you forgive me for sharing my own novel news - also has a Sapphic streak, though no fringes to get annoyed by! Elspeth it's called Parallel Spirals www.parallel-spirals.webs.com |
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Elspeth author of Parallel Spirals http://parallel-spirals.webs.com/ | |
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| tamla | Aug 2 2016, 01:36 AM Post #12 |
G2 landing
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I loved this Movie. I first heard about The Price Of Salt in the 1990's when I was watching a Canadian Documentary called "Forbidden Love The Unashamed Stories Of Lesbian Lives". Ann Bannon, another legendary writer in her own right said she was a big fan of her book. I saw sneak previews on YouTube and then I saw the Movie and read the book and I was mesmerized. The one thing I loved about Patricia Highsmith was that she like The Late VC Andrews (Flowers In The Attic) loved being a Writer but didn't fall into the Celebrity Lifestyle like Truman Capote (In Cold Blood). When "The Price Of Salt" was Republished she was willing to take a Smaller Salary as Patricia Highsmith over her "Alternative Name" Claire Morgan. Without realizing it, she helped contribute to The Chick Lit Moment whose early Authors were Graduates of Women's Colleges. Patricia From Barnard, Rona Jaffe (The Best Of Everything) and Mary McCarthy (The Group). It was the only Same Sex Romantic Book she ever wrote. Either way, it's a classic. |
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| mlbach | Aug 2 2016, 12:59 PM Post #13 |
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Keys for the handcuffs!
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There were plenty of "fringes" to get stuck on, thanks to the almost obsessive attention to detail of the production crew (I'd still like to know if the photo on the table in the NY Times scene is of the aftermath of a police raid on a gay bar). But that only serves to make the setting real IMHO. It doesn't change the love story. Otherwise how could we enjoy a story set in Regency England, or in ancient (or not so ancient) China when they still practiced foot binding, or on the planet Darkover. (Yes, I'm a nerd.) I do take issue with Carol wearing high heels when she's "relaxing" around the house, when in the book it mentions more than once that she's wearing moccasins. Although it does effectively underline the fact that she feels caught in a state of undress when Harge comes home unexpectedly. |
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| Juliet+Juliet | Aug 7 2016, 04:51 PM Post #14 |
Down the Block
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Hi, I'm new to this board and appreciate the forum to express my views about this wonderful movie. I second what Tamla said. Beautifully shot and acted, it's will become a classic. And no lesbian dies which is unique in and of itself. Just when one thinks we have moved on from those days of censorship, however, we hear that Delta Airlines showed an edited version of "Carol" on their inflight movie. No love scene I can kind of understand but no kisses between Carol and Terese either. We need more movies like Carol and more TV shows like "Bad Girls" in my opinion, which is a still a tough sell to showrunners unfortunately. |
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| mlbach | Aug 12 2016, 01:05 PM Post #15 |
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Keys for the handcuffs!
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Welcome to the board, Juliet+Juliet ! I absolutely agree that we need more shows like Carol, and, yes, Bad Girls. Maybe if they weren't such a rarity, the rest of us wouldn't be so obsessed about them, joining message boards, writing fanfiction...!
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) are kind of a guy thing, more specifically, a Western culture guy thing: create a heirarchy where none exists, nor even should exist. I haven't even looked at the fecking list-- I merely referred to it in a clumsy attempt to keep the conversation going.

8:45 AM Jul 11