Tuesday, September 01, 2009

Far From Heaven. Still Heavenly

Elle: Cathy? Oh, she's been liberal ever since she played summer stock with all those steamy Jewish boys. Why do you you think they used to call her 'red'?
Cathy: Oh, for heaven's sake. Let's go inside before Joe McCarthy comes driving by.
Seven years ago today, Todd Hayne's Far From Heaven debuted at the Venice Film Festival. It won four prizes there beginning a strong early awards season showing that resulted in four Oscar nominations but two sad snubs: Todd Haynes for Best Director (he won the most precursor prizes that year, believe it or not) and Dennis Quaid for Best Supporting Actor (who ran second only to eventual Oscar winner Chris Cooper for Adaptation in terms in pre-Oscar honors).

It still bursts with auteurial colors, "red" and otherwise...
*

20 comments:

NoNo said...

Love this film Julianne Moore was divine as well as Quaid, Clarkson and Haysbert. I think she should have won that year.

Dave said...

How odd. I took almost the very same screen-shot when I wrote an essay on Todd Haynes back in January. I used it to demonstrate the colour scheme he used.

It is a fantastic film. I'm not sure whether it's his best, because 'Safe' exists, but it's a very close call. Same goes for Julianne Moore performance, really.

Henry said...

Love this film (give Julianne her statue already!), but it's been a while since I saw it in its entirety. Must re-visit... some time soon.

(Really, the fact that Julianne Moore is empty-handed is one of the grave injustices of the world, but if Marty Scorsese can finally win one, there's always hope)

Jim T said...

I remember that it was the only year Nathaniel felt the need to give someone, Moore in particular, the "all categories" gold film bitch award.

I likes the film but didn't find it great. Plus, Moore impressed me more in Savage Grace. Maybe it was because of the role.

Victor S said...

I still don't know what hurts more: That Ed Lachman didn't won best cinematography or that Julianne Moore didn't won best actress.

BeRightBack said...

I rewatched this recently. It was better, somehow, revisited.

Also, Haynes's commentary on the DVD is one of the most interesting and enlightening I've listened to (I also, somewhat unexpectedly, really enjoyed the one by Tony Gilroy on Michael Clayton)

Dominique said...

Ah, "Far From Heaven"... The film that makes me forgive every single bad choice Julianne Moore has made since.

Matt Mazur said...

I didn't like this (maybe it would be accurate to say I didn't 'get' it) when FFH first came out.

Since then, however, I have had multiple repeat viewings and each one is richer than the last. The autumnal color palette, the staggering, perfect production design and the beautifully textured costumes are some of the best of the decade -- Mad Men owes a tremendous debt of gratitude to Todd Haynes' vision! He is such an exciting, vital artist and it is a nice added bonus that he is one of the great queer auteurs!

NoNo said...

Henry! Julianne should star in a film by Martin Scorsese!

Matt Mazur said...

Also, in regards to "giving her a statue" I think that she might have missed her chance -- if she couldn't do it in 02, then what could actually DO IT?

mrripley said...

moore in this sublime!!! if only they'd stuck kidman in support who could've pushed out moore then streep could be among the 5 best actress nominees,kick latifah out too for clarkson and bates for pfeiffer 02 rankles me so.

Joe Shetina said...

I just saw this for the first time a few months ago. It IS heavenly.

Kent said...

One of my favorite films and best of the 2000s. Added to that, Julianne Moore gives the most skillful performance this decade.

jbaker475 said...

People always talk about how much "Julianne deserved to win!!", and often forget to mention Quaid, who gave a career-best performance.

Notas Sobre Creación Cultural e Imaginarios Sociales said...

This is by far Julianne Moore's greatest film and perhaps the best movie of the decade.
I love it so much, it's so prone to being revisited and finding new things each and every time.
Who cares if Oscar snubbed it? Most of the time the Academy wouldn't recognize a masterpiece even if it landed on their epic-Holocaust-cheesy-message movie loving heads.

Jordan Ruimy said...

Quaid was even better than Moore. An Ok film but definitely not all that it was hyped up to be.

Adam said...

I'm surprised anyone could downplay Julianne Moore's performance in this. Even her critics (to whom I'm critical) should see that she hits a really rare and perfect balance between artifice and genuine emotion. She works the stylistic side and gives it substance to boot. Todd Haynes really gets the best from her. Whatever he's working on now, he needs to drop it and devote his time solely to Julianne - she needs her Oscar. PT Anderson should step up for the cause as well. But then everyone's right. If she can't win for a performance like this or "Safe," it may never happen.

Chris Na Taraja said...

Oh god, this film dives me nuts! I know that they are going for a style of film when they match all the costumes perfectly to the background, but I can't stand it. It's completely the wrong thing to do EVER!!!

It happens in VALLEY OF THE DOLLS too. Maybe Barbara Streisand matches her outfit to the walls and the couch and her leading man, but if you are a film maker, set designer or costume designer, please, hear my plea.... don't ever match!!!!!

Even with that, FAR FROM HEAVN is a really well done.

filmfan said...

Well, and this year, seven years after her best actress win for this genius performance, La Moore will be in Venice with another film: Tom Ford's 'A Single Man'.
Far From Heaven was also in Toronto - where Moore will be with 3(!) films this year:
A Single Man
The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, by Rebecca Miller
Chloe, by Atom Egoyan

Christine said...

I think this film is fabulous. And that's Allstate's stand.

Dennis Haysbert was robbed for an Oscar in this film. His performance is my favorite part of the movie, and I'm dumbfounded that he didn't get more high-profile work after this film. He's gotten a couple of, presumably, high-paying roles (the president on "24" and the Allstate commercials), but he's done such consistently high-quality work, esp. in this film, that I can't believe he didn't become a bigger star.