Tag Archive: Cate Blanchett


CAROL directed by Todd Haynes (USA, 2015)

carol_film_posterI borrowed this film from my local lending library in Cesena, Italy. This excellent ‘mediateca’,  somewhat anachronistically, continues to maintain a healthy stock of old and new DVDs.

In a card inside the case of more recent acquisitions you are invited to write what you think of the movie: “Lascia un commento, potresti convincere qulache indeciso” (Leave a comment – it may convince others who are undecided).

For Carol, there is just one review which (translated from Italian) states that it is “the story of an upper class woman who destroys the life of her husband and, not content with this, also ruins the life of a poor young working woman. All this in the name of a presumed sexual liberation. A film of homosexual propaganda”.

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The offending review of ‘Carol’.

This blinkered and spiteful reading of Todd Haynes’ elegant and intelligent movie illustrates that, despite some encouraging advances in LGBT rights, this is no time for complacency. Continue reading

BLUE JASMINE directed by Woody Allen (USA, 2012)

Jasmine (Cate Blanchett) hits rock bottom.

Jasmine (Cate Blanchett) hits rock bottom.

In 1980’s Stardust Memories, the autobiographical character Woody Allen played complained “I don’t feel funny. I look around the world and all I see is human suffering”.

Despite this, he has mainly continued to make comedies which, of late, have been little more than sentimental travelogues like Midnight In Paris and To Rome His Love.

In other words, he seems to have become resigned to the idea that people go to the movies to escape the stresses and suffering of the real world.

In the cinema in London where I saw Blue Jasmine the pre-publicity included a montage of clips with the tag-line “leave reality at home”. This invitation to enjoy the guilt-free two hours of pure escapism seemed a little at odds with the censor’s straight-faced warning of “mild references to sex and suicide”. Continue reading