Far From Heaven Review
by Bob Bloom (bobbloom AT iquest DOT net)January 23rd, 2003
FAR FROM HEAVEN (2002) 3 1/2 stars out of 4. Starring Julianne Moore, Dennis Quaid, Dennis Haysbert, Patricia Clarkson and Viola Davis. Music by Elmer Bernstein. Screenplay by Todd Haynes. Directed by Haynes. Rated PG-13. Running time: 107 minutes.
Those who cannot see below the surface will probably snicker and chortle at Far From Heaven's blatant theatricality and staginess.
But those who can see beneath this melodrama's 1950s' sheen will find a sly and subversive work.
The women's full, pleated dresses, the lush, melodramatic Elmer Bernstein score are merely camouflage for a story whose theme is timeless and contemporary - intolerance, the insidious virus of prejudice; not the open variety, but the furtive variety expressed by a raised eyebrow, or the curl of a lip or a false smile.
Far From Heaven is a movie driven by suppressed emotions, where everyone buries their true feelings and tries to maintain happy, uncomplicated lives without breaking the social mores.
Screenwriter-director Todd Haynes has lovingly recreated an era in which class distinctions took precedence, homosexuality was treated like a disease and racial tolerance was given lip service.
You needn't be steeped in '50s sociology, pop culture or movie lore to appreciate the emotional depth of Haynes' work. Though Haynes' style apes films from the period — a lot of pregnant pauses and meaningful glances - its message is not rooted in that decade.
To their friends and the rest of the outside world, the Whitakers of Hartford, Conn., are the model suburban family. Frank (Dennis Quaid), an executive at Magnatech, is the breadwinner, while wife, Cathy (Julianne Moore), is the homemaker, taking care of the two pre-teen children, as well as doing the shopping and planning the cocktail parties.
But behind the closed doors, all is not well with the Whitakers, and a series of events, mainly revolving around Frank's dark, secret other life, belies the family's outward serenity.
Adding to the turmoil is Cathy's blossoming and scandalous friendship with her gardener, Raymond Deagan (Dennis Haysbert).
Haynes purposely set out to reinterpret and revisit the domestic melodramas made popular by director John Stahl in the 1930s and more specifically by director Douglas Sirk in the 1950s.
Like Far From Heaven, Sirk's stories - All That Heaven Allows and There's Always Tomorrow - were set in prosperous, Technicolored suburbias.
In his notes for Far From Heaven, Haynes writes that "the strongest melodramas are those without apparent villains, where characters end up hurting each other unwittingly, just by pursuing their desires. To impose upon the seeming innocence of the 1950s, themes as mutually volatile as race and sexuality is to reveal how volatile those subjects remain today ..."
Haynes has engineered masterful performances from his cast, most notably from Quaid as the tortured husband fighting to discover his true self.
Quaid's macho posturings belie his self-loathing and guilt. One nice touch are some of the mannerisms he uses. When smoking, for example, he performs a sly imitation of Bette Davis, yet it is not obvious unless you are familiar with the legendary's actress's works.
Moore is luminous and deceptively simple as a good-hearted woman who knows her own mind and refuses to allow the imposed social mores dictate how she lives her life and who her friends should be.
Haysbert walks a tightrope. His character could have been considered a stereotype: The noble Negro, intelligent, college educated, well-spoken and cultured. But instead of a caricature, Haysbert gives Deagan depth and vulnerability, allowing the audience to experience the inner anger and turmoil of being looked upon as a second-class citizen in his own community.
Only a superb actor could utter the line, "I've learned my lesson about mixing in other worlds," and make it sound fresh and true.
However, Far From Heaven is a director's movies. Haynes has recreated the era perfectly, not only through set decorations and customs, but in its cinematic style. The characters complete sentences before another person speaks, close-ups are utilized for dramatic emphasis, as are Bernstein's musical cues. The framing and composition perfectly replicate the movies to which Haynes is paying homage.
Far From Heaven is a magnificent project, one of the best movies of the 2002, a feature not to be missed.
Bob Bloom is the film critic at the Journal and Courier in Lafayette, IN. He can be reached by e-mail at [email protected] or at [email protected]. Other reviews by Bloom can be found at www.jconline.com by clicking on movies.
Bloom's reviews also appear on the Web at the Rottentomatoes Web site, www.rottentomatoes.com and at the Internet Movie Database:
http://www.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Bob+Bloom
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