'Carol' official trailer and update: watch Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara in a 1950s Manhattan love affair
The full-length trailer for "Carol," a movie adaptation of the 1952 novel "The Price of Salt" by Patricia Highsmith has been released today.
The trailer shows Cate Blanchett playing the titular role of Carol, a Manhattan socialite in a loveless marriage and Rooney Mara who plays Therese Belivet, a department store shop girl. "Carol" is set in the 1950's and we see Carol and Therese's relationship in a tasteful lesbian love affair, reports Variety. The movie is directed by Todd Haynes and adapted by Phyllis Nagy and based off of Patricia Highsmith's novel, "The Price of Salt."
According to the report, the film's premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May awarded Mara a best actress trophy and the movie was well-received by many. "Carol" also received rave reviews at the Telluride Film Festival on Friday.
Film Critic Tim Robey of the Telegraph reviewed the film and gave it five stars. Robey describes "Carol" as "an exquisite work of American art, rippling with a very specific mid-century melancholy, understanding love as the riskiest but most necessary gamble in anyone's experience."
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Blanchett was asked how she came across the author's work.
"I first read it years ago, when I was filming my small part in a different Highsmith film, The Talented Mr. Ripley," Blanchett explained. "It was revelatory. You can't forget [Highsmith] is the goddess of crime fiction, but in this instance it's the desire which is criminal."
EW added that Blanchett saw the screenplay by Phyllis Nagy years after she read the novel and vastly preferred it than the book.
Two years ago director Haynes took on the project and explained his thoughts about the film.
"Of course, it's a story about a lesbian relationship. But it's really about how love itself makes you feel at a loss for language, and every gesture is weighted with anticipation and meaning," Haynes said.
Blanchett added: "It was the first gay novel where someone didn't kill themselves or get redeemed by the love of a good straight person," and explained: "Irrespective of sexual preference, it's honest about the feeling of falling in love."
Joining Blanchett and Mara are Kyle Chandler as Harge Aird, Carol's husband, Sarah Paulson as Abby Gerhard, Jake Lacy as Richard, Cory Michael Smith as Tommy, Carrie Brownstein as Genevieve Cantrell and Kevin Crowley as Fred Haymes.
"Carol" will be screened at the BFI London Film Festival's American Express Gala on Oct. 14 and will soon hit the theaters on Nov. 20.