| Product: |
Far From Heaven (DVD) |
| Date: |
23/05/03 (64 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Julianne Moore, Moving and touching
Disadvantages: Sometimes heavy-handed, Not big on laughter
To me, Julianne Moore was always the actress who made ginger hair and freckles beautiful. Not having ginger hair myself, but having an abundance of freckles, I loved it when her looks were praised.
It could have been for this reason, then, that I never took her seriously as an actress. She was the wannabe that took the dud roles - Lila Crane in the disastrous remake of Hitchcock's Psycho, and Clarice Starling in Hannibal - a role that Jodie Foster, rightly, was loath to take up again.
Far From Heaven changed all that. The only reason I went to see it, firstly, was that the Oscar race was on, and I wanted to watch all the leading actor and actresses performances so I could judge for myself. Julianne Moore's much-praised portrayel of Cathy Whitaker, a woman who on the surface has everything but then finds herself drawn to - shock horror - a black man when her world crumbles, was one of the most praised of the bunch. On finding out that it was a weepy, I couldn't really say no.
I'm extremely glad that I didn't. Moore's touching performance is the best thing about this film, but by far not the only good thing. Her Cathy is married to Dennis Quaid's Frank in an angrily painful role, who is secretly a homosexual. He sucumbs to his wife's suggestion of counselling when she is desparate to get her life back on track, but it doesn't work. In desparation, Moore turns to black gardener Raymond Deagon, sweetly played by 24's Dennis Haysbert.
As she gets closer and closer to him, Moore's pristine world begins to unravel. Underlying themes of closed-minded society that much mirrors our ideals today make this a powerful and moving film.
No matter how much we can pretend that it is not happening, this film makes you reasses your prejudices and see how much of what we judge on is on the surface. Moore's pain in her performance force you to realise and change your own narrow-minded judgements. It is shocking to r
emember that this film is set in the 1940s - how much has really changed?
Set against an ironic backdrop of brilliant autumnal colours and beauty, this is a film about cruelty, predjudices and hurt.
Yes, it is a weepie, and yes, it is rather heavy-handed at times, but please go and see it - director Todd Haynes has a message that is still relevent today and should never be forgotten.
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