Carol

"Some people change your life forever."

2015 1h 58m EN

👍

7.5

SOLID

★7.5TMDB · 4,050

RomanceDrama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

In 1950s New York, a department-store clerk who dreams of a better life falls for an older, married woman.

“Some people change your life forever.”

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Cast

Cate Blanchett
Carol Aird
Rooney Mara
Therese Belivet
Kyle Chandler
Harge Aird
Jake Lacy
Richard Semco
Sarah Paulson
Abby Gerhard
John Magaro
Dannie McElroy
Cory Michael Smith
Tommy Tucker
Kevin Crowley
Fred Haymes

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Todd Haynes
Writers: Phyllis Nagy
Languages: English
Countries: United Kingdom, United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 3.4× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 11 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: United Kingdom, United States of America.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Todd Haynes, shot by Edward Lachman. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Carter Burwell. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Affonso Gonçalves shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara and Kyle Chandler carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Some people change your life forever.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Todd Haynes directs. Edward Lachman behind the camera. Carter Burwell scores. Affonso Gonçalves cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United Kingdom, United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Made its money back 3.4× over at the box office.
2Released 11 years ago.
3International production across 2 countries: United Kingdom, United States of America.
4Directed by Todd Haynes, shot by Edward Lachman. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Carter Burwell. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Affonso Gonçalves shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara and Kyle Chandler carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "Some people change your life forever.".
9IMDB entry: tt2402927 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 27 themes, including "hotel", "new year's eve", "chicago, illinois", "new york city".
11Released under 23 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Edward Lachman
Original score: Carter Burwell
Editing: Affonso Gonçalves
Production design: Judy Becker
Costume design: Sandy Powell
Makeup / hair: Jerry DeCarlo
VFX supervisor: Edson Williams
Sound: Leslie Shatz
Runtime: 118 min · 1h 58m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $11,800,000
Box office: $40,272,135
Return: 341% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Carol (2015)

Awards

Dorian Award for LGBTQ Film of the Year
Dorian Award for Film of the Year
AACTA International Award for Best Supporting Actress
AACTA International Award for Best Actress
Queer Palm

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Todd Haynes

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Reno2016-03-04
★ 7/10
Just when it can't get any better... The first thing I noticed was after seeing the movie is there's some kind of mistake in the Oscars nominee. Rooney Mara should have been on the lead role list, while Cate Blanchett in the supporting character's. Maybe the Academy people misunderstood that the title role must be the lead character. Theirs switched place actually does not make any sense. Anyway the Oscars never made sense at all. This story was okay, but adapted screenplay and direction, especially the music was excellent. For the ending scene alone, you will be tempted to raise your rating than what you initially thought it deserves. I was not expecting the movie to be awesome, so I'm not upset for the overall movie. Believe me, the last thing I want in this movie is to see Cate Blanchett in naked. Maybe out of respect or her age or she's not attracted to me, there are plenty of reasons that I can't figure it out which one, but after knowing what this theme is, I was only praying for that not to happen. And obviously that is unavoidable, otherwise the movie will lose its soul and strength. Well, it was better than I thought, both the actresses were good, but Rooney Mara dominated. Whatever category she's in for the Oscars, I'll be happy if she wins. It is not a must watch, but a decent movie and betters in some parts. 7/10
mattwilde1232017-03-09
★ 8/10
'Carol' is beautifully shot and very maturely made. The acting was very class all around the film. The whole thing seemed like it was taken from the 40s. I loved how fine it all looked and felt and it deserved a lot more awards than it got. ★★★★
CinemaSerf2024-04-06
★ 7/10
"Therese" (Rooney Mara) is pretty unfulfilled, clerking in a department store that's frequented by the far more interesting "Carol" (Cate Blanchett). Their first meeting ignites a spark, and that spark quite quickly takes over both of their lives as the story unfolds and there develops an inter-dependency between the women. The latter is married to the wealthy "Harge" (Kyle Chandler) but it's an hollow arrangement that is coming to an end in the divorce court - their daughter together proving to be quite an important pawn in those proceedings. "Therese" has a long-term boyfriend "Richard" (Jake Lacy) who wants to settle down and get married - so both have much to lose as their relationship becomes more important and intimate. "Harge" has shrewdly inserted a morality clause into their proposed shared custody arrangement and is none too shy of resorting to some fairly underhand methods of tracking his wife's activities to prove that she isn't fit to have any access at all to their child. We also have to consider the closeness of the friendship between "Carol" and her best friend "Abby" (Sarah Paulson) and by mid way through the internecine complexities of their lives they risk leaving everyone with nothing. It's a romance, this, but largely devoid of sentimentality. A love story that is more visceral in nature, where one love is essentially climbing on top of another for supremacy over the heart and the head! It's Mara who does most of the heavy lifting, her character seems the more plausibly conflicted; but Blanchett delivers well as the desperate mother increasingly hemmed in by circumstance little of her making. The film looks great, the production design and Carter Burwell's period score adding a richness to a theme that offers us some intricate characters and scenarios that are anything but straightforward. It's maybe just a little too dialogue heavy - there's a lot of verbiage - but that's incidental. It's still a classy piece of cinema.