Anthony Iessi A tribute to 50's melodrama that completely tilts the genre on it's head with a compelling, heartbreaking story about prejudice. 50's style racism and sexism is given a wallop in the midst of this period piece. I fell in love with it immediately. Julianne Moore is an unconventional choice to play the role of the wife (as she tends to only pick edgy, dark roles) and she soars. Dennis Quaid left me speechless. Dennis Haysbert is magnificent. This is one of the forgotten great films of the 2000's

eduardo ramirez Hartford, Connecticut, 1957. Frank and Cathy Whitaker are what people might name "The American Dream come true": he's a successful salesman, she's a devoted housewife in charge of a perfect house in the suburbs and two lovely children, and committed to the social causes of the time. But this will fall apart when Cathy discovers a shocking truth about Frank, and she finds solace in Raymond, the black gardener, which will make her the center of the town's gossips.Todd Haynes has declared himself as a great admirer of the highly stylized melodramas made back in the 50's (especially the ones directed by Douglas Sirk: Imitation of Life and All that heaven allows). His third feature Far from heaven is an open homage to these movies, and it's also a compelling approach for younger audiences to an often forgotten genre. Haynes' splendid screenplays offers a sharp gaze to social troubles that sadly still remain just like in the 50's: sexual preferences treated as a disease and racial discrimination towards black people (let's remember they basically had zero rights at that time). In addition to this, tells a poignant story about forbidden love following the rules of melodrama (a plot that appeals to the heightened emotions of the audience, suffering protagonists (usually heroines) facing tremendous social pressures, threats, repression, fears, etc), escaping its clichés and conventionalities skilfully. As mentioned, in Far from heaven, Haynes' intention is to accomplish a faithful recreation of the old-fashioned period dramas in which production values become another character of the movie (an essential one). Thus, Haynes' creative team is able to put together a visually-striking gem: from Edward Lachman's exquisite cinematography, Sandy Powell's alluring costumes and Elmer Bernstein (in one of his final works) and his evocative music (it's not an accident the fact that Haynes chose him to score the movie, since he worked in several of those period pieces): all of them are perfectly assembled without overshadowing the final result. The third element that makes this movie so powerful and compelling is the acting: Haynes trusts in Julianne Moore's tremendous range and she portraits Cathy's tribulations with an affecting honesty (this is one of her top performances, for which she won the Best Actress Award at the Venice Film festival and received an Oscar nomination, among many other awards). Then there's Dennis Quaid, delivering the best performance of his career: as Frank he embraces his confusion and pain brilliantly, and creates empathy for a man whose "sin" to live a lie and hide his true desires. And behind them, there's a firs-rate supporting cast, including Dennis Haysbert as Raymond, the gardener who will comfort Cathy (even though this might cause him some pain) and Patricia Clarkson and Viola Davis in strong turns. With this movie, Todd Haynes let us know his superb skills as director by taking in a misunderstood genre, infuse it with new life and keeping its essence at the same time.

Davis P Far from Heaven is definitely one of the best films ever to be made. It stars Julianna Moore, Dennis Quaid and Patricia Clarkson. The writing and the screenplay is absolutely wonderful! The dialogue shared between the characters is so witty, enjoyable, and it's very smart/clever. The acting is wonderful here as well! Julianne Moore SHINES here! She so deserved that academy award nomination, and if you ask me, she should have won! Dennis was very good too, he played the emotional and distraught scenes very well, he was so very convincing in his role as a closeted gay man, which obviously wasn't nearly as widely accepted back in the 1950s time period. This movie addresses both LGBT and racial issues including harsh discrimination and prejudice feelings against both types of people, and the actors really show that so well! This movie is just a delight to watch, mainly because it's just so well made, well acted, and well written. It deserves every single one of its 4 academy award nominations! 10/10 for Far From Heaven!

Red_Identity I decided to seek this one out because of Julianne Moore. I thought it would be just another well-acted period drama. What I didn't know was that Todd Haynes was behind it, and from the opening the film lets you know what kind of style it will be. It's not one of those stuffy period dramas. In fact, it's very much made in the style of actual 1950s films. It's apparently taking on the style of Douglas Sirks' films, and even though I have never seen one, the style is apparent. This is the definition of a melodrama, but it serves the purpose completely and not the type of melodrama you would expect in this day and age. Everything is heightened in it's intensity. The incredible cinematography and use of colors is something to marvel at, and in terms of how the cinematography was constructed I don't think any other film could compare to. The beautiful music score is perfect and it only makes the atmosphere richer. All of this serves as a backdrop to a film that's really about contemporary issues in the 50s. That in itself has been the focus of many films in the last few years, but Far From Heaven stands apart from them all. The screenplay is brilliantly written, infusing rich backgrounds and characterization to all of the characters. In fact, the plot is pretty straight-forward and something you would see in classic films of that era, but now it feels fresh, alive with excitement. It's never depressing, and instead it tells its story until a satisfying conclusion. It's probably one of the best screenplays of its decade.The performances are also perfect. But Julianne Moore tops off this perfection. I was surprised by how little "big" scenes she has. I would have expected this film to, but then again that's just another surprise. She embodies this character completely, and now that we have all of these flawed and unlikable leads, here we have one who we can easily call a "hero". Someone who others could look up to, we instantly connect with Moore. Overall, Far From Heaven is the 2nd Haynes film I have seen (the other being I'm Not There), and still his ambition is as apparent as ever. This feels as unique of a film as one could hope for.