Far from Heaven
Facing my incredibly big list of movies to blog, I decided to start working them off early in the day. By 8pm, my brain is way too mushy to take care of it anymore. So here we are again.
Even though Gorp has previously raved about the film (or so it felt to me) and despite my general love for Julianne Moore(‘s wonderful panty-less scene in “Short Cuts”), I only planned to see “Far from Heaven” because of its high reviews. Since it seems to touch upon some favorite topics as racism and homosexuality, I had the fear that this is another one of those “Hollywood loves its favorite topics” cases. But oh I was so wrong, mostly at least. It is definitely true that the film is awfully Hollywood-ish and rather predictable (even without a happy end). Everything that happens in the film is rather dramatic and when compared to more toned-down stories set in the same time (I am thinking of “Mad Men”), there is something that just screams “too unrealistic” to you. Our protagonist goes from meeting the guy for the first time to going with him to where people like her never go in like two days. A little fast, huh? This is a melodrama after all, and the film confines itself very strongly within it. Everything in “Far from Heaven” drives the plot, and we see rather little of the characters, whereas “Mad Men” has the time to do the exact opposite. If “Far from Heaven” was a TV show, in which the movie’s plot line is only one of many, it probably would be perfect.
But it cannot be a TV show, because you have to pay homage to 50s movies with a movie. When I saw the beginning of the film, I completely forgot what Gorp said about it and was pleasantly surprised by the obvious Douglas Sirk references. It’s so refreshing and shockingly beautiful! Everything in the film just screams incredibly well made at you, so I can definitely see where those delighted critics are coming from. Julianne Moore is absolutely wonderful (that stage presence!), and I was very happy to see Patricia Clarkson too.
What personally surprised me the most about the film was how dated everything looked. I thought it was remarkable that Julianne Moore’s character always donned the huge-petticoat-style à la Betty Draper, and it makes her so out-dated. The 60s and 80s styles look pleasantly retro to us today, whereas 50s, 70s and 90s look frumpy and old. I remember that just a few years ago I loved those dresses (and Julianne Moore looks fabulous in them, mind you) but recently I definitely prefer a more simple 60s style and shorter dresses.
Don’t misunderstand by the relatively short review and total lack of bullet points – I did like the film a lot, probably because I love the Douglas Sirk style. But the film itself does not lend to much musing about it… it’s the kind of film you have to see for yourself. It’s a little bit of a fairy tale (even without a happy end), much like Douglas Sirk’s movies, and it makes you feel confident that Hollywood can actually produce beautiful gems within its relatively strict set of rules.