Far From Heaven
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Dennis Haysbert, Julianne MooreBrand: Universal Studios
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language); French (Dubbed)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 107 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-04-01
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Universal Studios
Movie Reviews of Far From Heaven
Movie Review: Sheer brilliance...
Summary: 5 Stars
There are so many things I want to say about this movie, but I'm not sure how I should say it. I'll start I guess with the film itself, a film that I decided to see about a year ago but have not had the chance or the persistence to go ahead with it until last night. I've read an article, about six months ago, likening this film to `Brokeback Mountain' and the article is really what set my determination over the edge. `Brokeback Mountain' to me is one of the greatest and most intelligent films I've ever seen and so with that in mind my mind was set in seeing this film as well. Well truth be told `Brokeback' this is not, but this film truly resonates at a high level with the viewer if they allow it. This to me would be the flip side of `Brokeback', the story of the scorned wife not the confused husband. Cathy Whitaker (Moore) is living the perfect life, and this life is immediately fed to us within the first few minutes of the film where the local newspaper is doing an article on her. She has the perfect house, children husband and she seems genuinely happy, that is all until she discovers her husband's dark secret.
Dennis Quaid is one of the reasons this movie is so wonderful for he finally proves what I've suspected all along, this guy can really freaking act. His portrayal of the confused Frank Whitaker is so emotionally charged and heart breaking that I'm utterly astonished it didn't garner him at least an Oscar nomination (while in my humble opinion he should have won). After Cathy comes upon her husband in the arms of another man they are forced to face the facts, and so in an attempt to save his marriage and his family Frank agrees to see a doctor in an effort to `cure' him of his tendencies. What makes this film for me was the genuine sincerity in Quaid's performance. Every outburst, every tear, every word and or action was completely surreal and convincing. I was just truly blown away by the power in his performance.
In the wake of this new development in the Whitaker household Cathy begins to take solace in the form of her new gardener Raymond Deagan (Haysbert) who extends to Cathy the kind of genuine kindness she's lacking from everyone else around her. While never disclosing her family's dark new nightmare she does unload some of her surface feelings to her new found friend, but this friendship also ends up being more of a malediction when the community starts to frown down upon her choice of associates. You see, Raymond is black and in this 50's community, well a white woman just doesn't spend that much alone time with a black man. With her friends as well as her husband turning on her she ends her relationship with Raymond, which ends up being the hardest mistake she'll ever have to live with, and continues to work on her family. I won't give away the outcome of this film but I'm sure it's one that we all saw coming.
Another thing that this film helped me to see was what all this Julianne Moore hype was all about. I've actually never been on her bandwagon, having really only seen performances I've felt were good at best, but her performance here was stunning and perfectly poised and on point. She captured the essence of the 50's housewife to perfection and carried so much expression and weight in her face alone. I did notice something though, and I just want to throw this out there, but to me Julianne's performance really shined when she was interacting with her brilliant supporting cast, her best scenes stand where she was bouncing off of Quaid's intensity or Haysbert's sincerity or even Clarkson's wit and charm. On her own I felt that Moore's performance wasn't quite as strong. Don't get me wrong, she still was outstanding, but I felt her performance would get a face lift every time someone else occupied the screen alongside her.
I will make a quick note as well in regards to Todd Haynes brilliant directing here. He truly captures the era that was the 1950's, from the look, the feel as well as the performances he drew out from his entire cast. He was so effective that throughout the first ten minutes or so I could almost swear I was watching an episode of `Leave it to Beaver', from the way the children spoke to their mother to the way the family interacted in general, is was all so `otherworldly' as some have said yet all the more real because of that. I was utterly impressed with every passing frame. Very well done indeed.
So in closing I wanted to address that this film does indeed touch upon the prejudices we all see even today, whether they be sexual or racial, but to me this film is more about the loneliness one faces when everything he or she believed in comes crashing down. The film for the most part focuses on Cathy and her dilemma as her supposed perfect life is destroyed, but in scenes like Franks final breakdown we can really see that this is not affecting him in a good way either. He doesn't want to tear his family apart; he just doesn't know how to say no to what he desires. He knows that he'll never be truly happy if he ignores it. It's a no win situation for someone is going to walk away hurt. While Frank may in the short of things look like a horrible person or in any instance the villain of this story he is in fact just another victim in this game we all call our lives. Thanks in a large part to Quaid's riveting performance `Far From Heaven' will be remembered, no not as the best film of 2002 but certainly as one of the most moving.
Summary of Far From Heaven
Cathy and Frank Whitaker, a seemingly perfect fifties' couple face the breakdown of their marriage because of conflicting desires.Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 24-AUG-2004
Media Type: DVD
This uniquely beautiful film--from one of the smartest and most idiosyncratic of contemporary directors, Todd Haynes (Safe, Velvet Goldmine)--takes the lush 1950s visual style of so-called women's pictures (particularly those of Douglas Sirk, director of Imitation of Life and Magnificent Obsession) to tell a story that mixes both sexual and racial prejudice. Julianne Moore, an amazing fusion of vulnerability and will power, plays a housewife whose husband (Dennis Quaid) has a secret gay life. When she finds solace in the company of a black gardener (Dennis Haysbert), rumors and peer pressure destroy any chance she has at happiness. It's astonishing how a movie with such a stylized veneer can be so emotionally compelling; the cast and filmmakers have such an impeccable command of the look and feel of the genre that every moment is simultaneously artificial and deeply felt. Far from Heaven is ingenious and completely engrossing. --Bret Fetzer
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