| Far From Heaven | |
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Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Todd Haynes |
| Produced by | Jody Patton Christine Vachon |
| Written by | Todd Haynes |
| Starring | Julianne Moore Dennis Quaid Dennis Haysbert Patricia Clarkson Viola Davis |
| Music by | Elmer Bernstein |
| Cinematography | Edward Lachman |
| Editing by | James Lyons |
| Studio | Consolidated Film Industries TF1 Cinema Section Eight Vulcan Productions |
| Distributed by | Focus Features |
| Release date(s) | November 22, 2002 |
| Running time | 107 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $13.5 million |
| Box office | $29,027,914 |
Far from Heaven is a 2002 drama film written and directed by Todd Haynes and starring Julianne Moore, Dennis Quaid, Dennis Haysbert, and Patricia Clarkson.
The film tells the story of Cathy Whitaker, a 1950s housewife, living in suburban Connecticut as she sees her seemingly perfect life begin to fall apart. It is done in the style of a Douglas Sirk film (especially 1955's All That Heaven Allows and 1959's Imitation of Life), dealing with complex contemporary issues such as race, gender roles, sexual orientation and class.
The film was nominated for several Academy Awards: for Best Actress in a Leading Role (Julianne Moore), Best Original Screenplay (Todd Haynes), Best Cinematography (Edward Lachman), and Best Original Score (Elmer Bernstein).
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In 1957 suburban Connecticut, Cathy Whitaker (Julianne Moore), appears to be the perfect wife, mother, and homemaker. Cathy is married to Frank (Dennis Quaid), a successful executive at Magnatech, a company selling television advertising. One evening Cathy receives a phone call from the local police who are holding her husband. He says it's all a mix up but they won't let him leave alone. Cathy is preparing for her annual party with her best friend, Eleanor Fine (Patricia Clarkson). One day Cathy spies an unknown black man walking through her garden. He turns out to be Raymond Deagan (Dennis Haysbert), the son of Cathy's late gardener.
Frank finds himself forced to stay late at the office, swamped with work. One evening, however, he enters an underground bar filled with single men. Meanwhile, Cathy and Raymond develop a friendship. One night when Frank is working late Cathy decides to bring his dinner to him at the office. She walks in on him passionately kissing another man. Frank confesses having had 'problems' as a young man, and agrees to see psychiatrist Dr. Bowman (James Rebhorn) in the hope of being "converted back" to heterosexuality. His relationship with Cathy is irreparably strained, however, and he turns to alcohol. At an art show of her friend, Cathy unexpectedly meets Raymond, where she spends much of her day talking to him, setting the town ablaze with gossip. One night, after a party, Frank attempts to make love to Cathy. He is unable to become aroused and strikes Cathy when she tries to console him. Unable to comprehend the destruction of her marriage, Cathy turns to Raymond for comfort. He takes her on a ride to his part of the town where she meets other black people.
As Cathy sees her once idyllic world falling apart, she begins to form an even greater attachment to Raymond, but their non-intimate relationship has violent consequences for Raymond's daughter, Sarah, who is attacked by three white boys who are not prosecuted. The Deagan home is also vandalized. When Cathy reveals her marriage problems to Eleanor, she clearly disapproves of Cathy's perceived romance with a colored man. At the same time Frank, unable to suppress his homosexual desires, falls in love with another man and seeks a divorce from Cathy. Raymond decides to move away with his daughter to avoid further troubles for both himself and Cathy. In the last scene, Cathy goes to the train station to see off Raymond and say her silent goodbye to him.
Haynes wrote the script envisioning Moore and James Gandolfini as Cathy and Frank, respectively. While Moore joined the project immediately, Gandolfini was unavailable due to The Sopranos. Haynes' next choice, Russell Crowe, believed that the role was too small, and Jeff Bridges wanted too much money.[1]
Far from Heaven is made in the style of many 1950s films, notably those of Douglas Sirk. Haynes created color palettes for every scene in the film and was careful and particular in his choices. Haynes emphasizes experience with color in such scenes as one in which Cathy, Eleanor, and their friends are all dressed in reds, oranges, yellows, browns, and greens. Haynes also plays with the color green, using it to light forbidden and mysterious scenes. He employs this effect both in the scene in which Frank visits a gay bar and when Cathy goes to the restaurant in a predominately black neighborhood.
Haynes also uses shots and angles that would have been standard in Sirk's films and era. Cinematographer Edward Lachman created the 1950s "look" with the same type of lighting techniques and lighting equipment (incandescent), and employs lens filters that would have been used in a 1950s-era melodrama. The script employs over-the-top, melodramatic dialogue, and Elmer Bernstein's score is reminiscent of those he had composed 40 and 50 years earlier. The sound, done by Kelley Baker, also uses a lot of foley to make more prominent the sound of rustling clothes and loud footsteps, a sound technique that was used more in 1950-era film.
In the commentary, Haynes notes that he was also influenced by Rainer Werner Fassbinder's film Ali: Fear Eats the Soul.[2] As in Fassbinder's film, in Far from Heaven Haynes portrays feelings of alienation and awkwardness. For example, instead of cutting to the next scene, Haynes sometimes lingers on a character for a few seconds longer than comfortable to the viewer, the same technique used by Fassbinder.
Another notable feature is when Cathy drives her car through town. Rather than filming inside the car as it actually moves, the car is filmed still with artificial backgrounds seen through the windows, reminiscent of older films. On the DVD commentary, Haynes states that one of these scenes re-uses the artificial background first used in a scene from All That Heaven Allows.
The film did extraordinarily well in the Village Voice's Film Critics' Poll of 2002, where Far From Heaven won for best picture, Julianne Moore for best lead performance and Todd Haynes for best director and best original screenplay. Edward Lachman's work in Far From Heaven also won best cinematography by a wide margin while Dennis Quaid, Patricia Clarkson and Dennis Haysbert were all recognized for their supporting performances in Far From Heaven, placing second, fourth and ninth, respectively.[3]
Far From Heaven was nominated for four Academy Awards. The film was nominated for over 100 other awards and won approximately 30 of them.
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Chicago Film Critics Association Awards
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Chlotrudis Awards
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Golden Globes
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Independent Spirit Awards
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National Board of Review
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New York Film Critics Circle Awards
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Online Film Critics Society Awards
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Screen Actors Guild Awards
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Writers Guild of America Awards
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