Set in 1950s New York, the story adapted from Patricia Highsmith's 1952 novel "The Price of Salt," is both straightforward and deeply complex. It is about the two women from very different backgrounds who find themselves in the throes of love. A young woman in her 20s, Therese Belivet (Rooney Mara), is a clerk working in a Manhattan department store and dreaming of a more fulfilling life when she meets Carol (Cate Blanchett), an alluring woman trapped in a loveless, convenient marriage.
As an immediate connection sparks between them, the innocence of their first encounter dims and their connection deepens. While Carol breaks free from the confines of marriage, her husband (Kyle Chandler) threatens her competence as a mother when Carol's involvement with Therese and close relationship with her best friend Abby (Sarah Paulson) comes to light. As Carol leaves the comfort of home to travel with Therese, an internal journey of self-discovery coincides with her new sense of space.
"In the '50s, homosexual relationships were illegal, because they were seen as something that actually could exist. But there wasn't even an acceptance or an awareness of relationships between women, it was in the realm of the hysteric," says Cate Blanchett, who plays as Carol.
That kind of love "was just a female dysfunction," she says. "The fact that they're women, they have an added layer of prejudice to push through and be heard. It doesn't even warrant being a crime, what they feel for each other."
"Carol," a Weinstein Company release, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America for "a scene of sexuality/nudity and brief language. Carol made a splash at its Cannes Film Festival debut, with Rooney Mara taking home the best actress prize.
