Cady's Take:

I must be careful when reviewing a movie like “Far From Heaven” because what I want to impart about this movie is the style and craft with which it was made. I cannot imagine how difficult it is to make a film set in the 1950s believable, and without a direct social reference to the present such as flashback. This film could have gone so horribly wrong and yet it did not; it hit all the right notes and it created all the right characters. Stylistically “Far From Heaven” could have been made in the 1950s (with the exception of some plot points but I am getting to that.) Even the actors (notably Dennis Quaid and Julianne Moore) adopted the acting style so popular in that era; affectation in speech and physical movement on screen, and the overall effect was extremely convincing.

Frank & Cathy Whitaker have it all – the house, the cars, the son, the friends. They never have sex, and although Cathy wonders why, she seems to accept on the surface how tired Frank says he is – after all he probably worked hard to give her the house, the cars, the son, the friends. One night, as any dutiful wife would, Cathy surprises her husband with dinner at the office and finds him kissing another man. At the same time Cathy has begun a friendship with her black gardener Raymond (Dennis Haysbert.) Raymond is kind and gentle, and also smart (think Sidney Poitier.) Although devastated by Frank’s betrayal, and the nature of the betrayal itself she is taking comfort in his willingness to go to therapy to “beat this thing” and her friendship with Raymond. As Frank’s resentment over his own homosexuality builds, Cathy finds herself drawn to Raymond, who treats her like a person and not a prop, and the Whitaker’s social circle begins to narrow; the scene when Frank berates Cathy for embarrassing him is fine work from Dennis Quaid.

This movie is more than a mere social commentary. It would be easy to dismiss the storyline because it does not move briskly, and it explores issues instead of solving problems. This movie is cinema in the old sense of the word. It is leisurely and graceful with sets and costume that look like, well, heaven. The effect of the TechniColor is somehow more effective than even black and white could be; creating shadows in the bright, promising America that mirrored those shadows within the characters. When I looked it up I discovered that a Mr. Edward Lochman was the cinematographer for “Far From Heaven” and that the color design was his work. We also get to see close-up issues that could not have been touched upon had this movie been made in the 1950s about a family in the 1950s, such as interracial relationships and homosexuality. If this movie had been made 60 years ago we would have seen Raymond once through the kitchen window over Mrs. Whitaker’s shoulder. “Far From Heaven” explores the 1950s but it also explores the present human condition; it asks us to consider that we may not have come as far as we previously thought.