Amazon.com: This uniquely beautiful film--from one of the smartest and most idiosyncratic of contemporary directors, Todd Haynes (Safe, Velvet Goldmine)--takes the lush 1950s visual style of so-called women's pictures (particularly those of Douglas Sirk, director of Imitation of Life and Magnificent Obsession) to tell a story that mixes both sexual and racial prejudice. Julianne Moore, an amazing fusion of vulnerability and will power, plays a housewife whose husband (Dennis Quaid) has a secret gay life. When she finds solace in the company of a black gardener (Dennis Haysbert), rumors and peer pressure destroy any chance she has at happiness. It's astonishing how a movie with such a stylized veneer can be so emotionally compelling; the cast and filmmakers have such an impeccable command of the look and feel of the genre that every moment is simultaneously artificial and deeply felt. Far from Heaven is ingenious and completely engrossing. --Bret Fetzer
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Average Rating:
Rating: - Far from true but, a beautiful movie anyway
I don't think, in reality, that the 50's era was all that innocent. After all, homosexuals and negroes have always been with us. Like, June Cleaver cleaned her TV house wearing pearls and a skirt, stocking, heels, and a neat sweater set and perfectly styled hair with pearl earrings. Have you every seen your mother clean all dressed up? Of course not, because it's make believe. Like the movies, or anything for that matter. It's all a facade. But, that's why we used to go to the movies, to get away from reality, were the people are pretty and dressed nice and are polite to each other, throw in some melodrama and you got some good popcorn munching entertainment. And the handsome black man in this movie had his own business, was well dressed, well spoken, a widower, with a young daughter. He was probably lonely, missing his wife, and he meets a lovely, well spoken white women, who is also lonely, missing her husband. ... Read More
Rating: - Far From Heaven
An excellent, well acted movie. Women will probably enjoy this more than men...I know I will keep watching it every so often over the years...
Rating: - a fabulously filmed story
from the beginning of the movie you are drawn into the over-the-top
colorful world of suburbia 1950's. i know the director& designers
deliberately parodied the technicolor movie genres of the time period
but their interpretation just blew me away. juilianna moore and dennis quaid were remarkable in creating their characters for whom i felt both sympathy & shared frustration. the only drawback to the whole film for me was the treatment of the children,mostly by their mother. while i understand the 'seen not heard' concept & the fact that the wife was trying to protect her husband from any household upset, i think these kids would probably have spent most of their adult lives in therapy due
to the total lack of emotional empathy given to them by both of their parents. that having been said, this movie is still one of my top 10 all time favourites.
Rating: - Disappointing
It's "Leave it to Beaver" with Ward as a closeted gay man and June in love with her black gardener. Julianne Moore's character is so stereotypically 1950s perfect housewife, that for the first 30 minutes I wasn't sure if the film was supposed to be a comedy. Moore's character is impeccable, with a 20 inch waist and stellar hostessing skills. She makes June Cleaver look like Roseanne Connor. In fact, the film is almost completely centered around the wife. I was hoping for a film that delved more deeply into the world of a closeted family man in the 1950s. For those of us living in the 21st century it's hard to imagine what that could be like. It failed to live up to my expectations. At first the film provides an extra treat--the movie portrays an unexpected interracial relationship between the wife and the black gardener (played by the Allstate Insurance guy). What could be more interesting--a film set in the 1950s that takes ... Read More
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- Far from true but, a beautiful movie anyway
- Disappointing
