They say when it rains it pours. Well, I don’t know if you can call two high-profile, high-expectations lesbian dramas a downpour, but it’s a start. This year both “Freeheld” and “Carol” could breakout to mainstream audiences. I mused last month about the powerful possibilities of “Freeheld” over at Women and Hollywood. And now, after its premiere in Cannes, critics have begun to lavishraves on “Carol” and posit it as “Hollywood's first breakthrough lesbian love story” (though, that’s coming from that Ramin guy again, so take that is you will).
From what we can tell from the first clips and reviews, it’s clearly director Todd Haynes’ lesbian counterpart to his 2002 film “Far From Heaven.” He certainly has an eye for the 1950s, and can expertly recreate the upscale ambiance and closed-off claustrophobia of the era. In short, it looks beautiful and I’m very anxious to watch, just like everyone else.
So if “Carol” becomes our big lesbian breakout, instead of “Freeheld,” it will be interesting indeed. (Though why fight, can’t both be breakthroughs?) The politics of “Freeheld” – given the current marriage equality momentum – are certainly more current. But there is a universal topicality to “Carol” as well, despite it being more of a classic period piece.
If you think about it from a cultural standpoint, it may well indeed be easier for mainstream straight audiences to connect with a story of past prejudice against the so-called “sins of homosexuality” in the 1950s than one that is less than a decade old. Dare I say it would be more comfortable to look back at that longer-ago era and say, “My haven’t we progressed,” than the uncomfortable closeness of the early 2000s and think, “My, we still have a long way to go.”
As a lesbian viewer, I’m just thrilled that 2015 is set to offer us what seems to be two strong and hopefully worthy films that tell our stories – regardless the time period. Two films isn’t exactly an embarrassment of riches. But it’s not chump change, either.