I've been putting off watching 'Carol' for a while and this weekend I finally decided to watch it. Going into this film I did not expect to come out feeling the way I felt. On the one hand this film takes place in 1950's New York and as much as I love New York I always find myself hesitating when it comes to watching period pieces for fear of being bored out of my mind. On The other hand 'Carol' has romance, good actors, and 6 Academy Award nominations so I finally decided to watch. This film's visual beauty and transformative performances will leave you in a trance, you'll be begging to see where these characters go after the credits. Carol, divine and subtle with affection will sneak up on you and pull at your heart strings in ways you never thought it could.
I enjoyed this film and I noticed such an abundance of cinematic symbolism I had to break this analysis into 3 parts.

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Carol is the film adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's novel "The Price of Salt" .Screenplay by Phyllis Nagy, directed by Todd Haynes, starring Rooney Mara and Cate Blanchett. This is the story of two women (Carol Aird & Therese Belivet) who fall in love in 1950's New York City. When they meet, Therese (Rooney Mara) is working at a toy store, longing for a more meaningful life and Carol is trapped in a loveless marriage to her husband Harge (Kyle Chandler).

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This film is nearly perfect and will no doubt go down in history as a classic. The use of color, dialogue, camera angles, and costumes are all very symbolic and meaningful. Nearly every scene has significance thanks to Edward Lachman and Todd Haynes' exquisite attention to detail. The core meaning of this film may not always be revealed in the minimal details expressed through dialogue. The meaning lies underneath the silence, it lives between the colors and the angles. Carol never tells you how to feel, it puts you deep in the story, often drifting from steady camera movement to thought provoking glimpses of the world through Therese's eyes. The cinematography allows us to understand the increasing levels of fascination between Carol Aird and Therese Belivet in ways the dialogue cannot.

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Point of view is used only when Therese is with Carol. One of the most memorable point of view shots happens during the toy store scene when Carol and Therese's eyes meet from across the room. The camera is so still it's  hard to even tell it's a pov shot until Therese is interrupted by a customer and we quickly pan over from Carol to the customer and cut back to a standard shot of Therese who for the first few seconds of answering the question is focused on something else, searching the room for Carol. This is one of the most significant shots in the film, it captures that instant attraction between Carol and Therese. This shot makes it seem as though everyone and everything is a distraction to Therese when Carol is in the room. We get to experience that pull of focus from Carol to the customer and back to the train set.

 

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The cinematography of Carol is greatly influenced by the work of Saul Leiter, a

photographer best known for shooting though windows and using reflection. Windows are used in countless ways throughout this film. We see into them and out of them, sometimes windows are foggy or wet and sometimes clear. In Carol, the use of 
windows is not only a highly original and thought provoking form of storytelling it's also a subtle and often breathtakingly beautiful way of conveying mood from scene to scene. At the beginning and the end of the film Rooney Mara's character rides in a packed car on the way to a party moments after meeting with Carol in the bar at the Ritz. Outside the foggy, rainy window children can be heard playing and when Therese looks out she sees a women who resembles Carol. We cut to a shot of Therese from outside the window just as red street light flashes across her face. It's the combination children playing and seeing a women who resembles Carol that propels us into the past at the beginning, and towards Carol in the end.  

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The color red is significant because it's mostly associated with Carol Aird. We see red in her clothing, lipsticks and even nail polishes. In cinema red is often used to symbolize love and passion so having Carol wear red is a choice that not only helps us draw towards her but it also to illuminates an almost wistful attraction between Carol and Therese that cannot be overtly shown in an oppressive 1950's New York City. In this film color is used as a subtle reference to the developing romantic relationship between Carol and Therese. Throughout the beginning of the film Carol wears reds and pinks, while Therese wears calm greens and blues. While packing for their trip, Therese places a neatly folded red sweater in her suitcase which she later wears at the diner where she gifts carol with an album. 

 

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As their relationship develops we see more and more color mirroring between the two characters. In one scene Carol and Therese can actually be seen  wearing the same colors, it seems as though at this point in the film the two characters are most

comfortable with each other. Even while sitting next to the seemingly harmless but 
irksome "salesman" who ultimately causes them so much anguish they look at a map and sip coffee, it's effortless. In 'Carol' color mirroring is a subtle indication of the degree to which Carol and Therese influence each other throughout the film. It becomes second nature for them to order the same food, wear similar colors,share a 
series of repeated phrases like "...Flung out of Space", and make contact by touching one another's shoulders.These words, colors, and phrases all take on a familiarity in their story, as their relationship grows these are the things that bind them together.