Critic Rating
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Director
Todd Haynes
Cast
Rooney Mara,
Cate Blanchett,
Kyle Chandler,
Sarah Paulson,
Jake Lacy,
John Magaro
Genre
Romance,
Drama
In 1950s New York, Therese, a young aspiring photographer, meets the older, elegant Carol in a doll department store. They begin to see each other, but each is burdened by their own relationships. As time goes by, their burgeoning romance becomes more irresistible, and much more complicated.
A film on coming of age, covert yearning, and the shared dilemma between women. It begins with a young girl setting off into the world in confusion, and ends with a grown woman who recognizes what she wants and who she wants to be. One of the most beautiful films of our time.
An immersive and melancholy film featuring two very capable actors and a memorable 1950s set design. Maybe too much fluff (read: slow!) for some viewers, but I respect the detail and thought that Todd Haynes put into each shot, though I think the film relies heavily on its aesthetic appeal.
A gorgeously photographed film of looks and glances and stolen stares. Todd Haynes directs a beautiful and heartbreaking story of love, loss, jealousy, and obsession that should be seen by causal film fans and aspiring filmmakers alike.
This movie is so well-acted and overall a delight to watch. Every twist and turn of the story takes us along for the ride with a mesmerizing soundtrack and an overall aesthetic appeal that is not to be missed. Carol's character particularly is fascinating to watch both because of Cate Blanchett's wonderful acting and because of the heartbreaking emotional arc she goes through throughout the movie.
Time Out London by Dave Calhoun
Gestures, looks and touches carry enormous weight, and Blanchett and Mara, both excellent, invite micropscopic readings of their every glance and movement.
Variety by Justin Chang
Even high expectations don’t quite prepare you for the startling impact of Carol, an exquisitely drawn, deeply felt love story that teases out every shadow and nuance of its characters’ inner lives with supreme intelligence, breathtaking poise and filmmaking craft of the most sophisticated yet accessible order.
The Telegraph by Tim Robey
Carol is gorgeous, gently groundbreaking, and might be the saddest thing you’ll ever see. More than hugely accomplished cinema, it’s an exquisite work of American art, rippling with a very specific mid-century melancholy, understanding love as the riskiest but most necessary gamble in anyone’s experience.
The Playlist by Jessica Kiang
Made of crystal and suppressed tears, shot eternally through windows and mirrors and half-closed doors, Todd Haynes' Carol is a love story that starts at a trickle, swells gradually to a torrent, and finally bursts the banks of your heart. A beautiful film in every way, immaculately made, and featuring two pristine actresses glowing across rooms and tousled bedclothes at each other like beacons of tentative, unspoken hope.
IndieWire by Eric Kohn
A nuanced tale of mutual attraction that reflects a filmmaker and cast operating at the height of their powers, rendering complex circumstances in strikingly personal terms.
The Guardian by Peter Bradshaw
It is a creamily sensuous, richly observed piece of work, handsomely detailed and furnished: the clothes, the hair, the automobiles, the train carriages, the record players, the lipstick and the cigarettes are all superbly presented. The combination of all this is intoxicating in itself.
The New York Times by A.O. Scott
At once ardent and analytical, cerebral and swooning, Carol is a study in human magnetism, in the physics and optics of eros. With sparse dialogue and restrained drama, the film is a symphony of angles and glances, of colors and shadows.
New York Daily News by Stephen Whitty
It's really a movie about love at first sight, about the dizzying early days of a relationship, about a passion so strong it can't be described, or denied. And that's something everyone can identify with. If they're lucky.
Observer by Rex Reed
Gorgeously photographed, sensitively written and directed, flawlessly acted, and deeply, intensely important, Carol is Todd Haynes’ most brilliant film since Far From Heaven and one of the triumphs of 2015.
Miami Herald by René Rodríguez
The movie, shot in lovely, grainy 16mm by cinematographer Ed Lachman, is so elegantly staged you can practically smell the characters’ perfume. Haynes’ direction is methodical and precise without being fussy or oppressive. Every detail has been weighed and considered.
Screen Daily by Tim Grierson
It’s such stately, evocative, confident filmmaking, the only reservation being that it’s also a bit chilly.
Screen International by Tim Grierson
It’s such stately, evocative, confident filmmaking, the only reservation being that it’s also a bit chilly.
The Hollywood Reporter by Todd McCarthy
Blanchett makes an indelible impression as a woman who, through breeding, intense personal cultivation and social expectations, has brilliantly mastered the skill of navigating through life.
Hitfix by Gregory Ellwood
Only the combined talents of both Blanchett and Mara can make the film's powerfully realized finale work.
CineVue
A beautiful entity, near flawless in design, any talk of accolades certainly seems justified.
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