Autumn is my favorite time of year, when the colors of the foliage are at their most vivid. Alas, it is the shortest of the seasons, as those leaves start falling almost as soon as they have turned.
I think it is deliberate 2002’s Far from Heaven opens in the peak of that season, as we see the superficially perfect life of Julianne Moore and Dennis Quaid and their two children in the 1950’s. Their suburban Connecticut house is large enough, and the couple wealthy enough, to have a live-in maid (Viola Davis).
Quaid is a high-level executive at a certain tech company, so strongly associated with his work that the couple is known as Mr. & Mrs. Magnetech. Moore has many social activities, and is the most liberal of her friends, prompting one of them to remark, “Is that why they used to call you ‘Red’?” She is regarded so highly that we see her getting interviewed for the society pages. Pretty soon, there will be all kinds of gossip going around concerning these two that they’ll doubtlessly long for the days her friends only joked about the potential for her to be a Communist.
Her husband is arrested for a charge that isn’t revealed to us, except he claims he tried telling the police he can identify the person they were looking for who was the real one “loitering”. Her husband works late a lot and she makes the fateful decision one night to bring dinner to him in the office, to find him engaged in a passionate lip-lock with another man.
Quaid tries therapy to “cure” his same-sex attractions, despite a doctor played by James Rebhorn informing him of the low success rate. In the meantime, Moore has struck up an unlikely friendship and flirtation with Dennis Haysbert, who I don’t need to tell you is Black.
There’s a scene I especially liked where Moore and Haysbert both happen to attend a modern art exhibit. While looking at a Miro (a print of which we just happen to have in our bedroom), he makes a statement about such work being important because of the purity of the emotions it provokes. He believes it picks up where religious art left off, a sentiment which resonates with her. In the meantime, she’s getting quite a bit of suspicious side-eye from her fellow alleged liberals.
Moore expresses wonder as to how it must feel like to be the only person of his race in the room. Later, he invites her to lunch with him at a Black-owned restaurant where she’s the only White person in that room.
The reaction of some patrons there shows how strongly Blacks will be opposed to their budding attraction as Whites will. I found it interesting there are two controversies in this film and the one which seems to cause the most outrage is the possibility of an interracial relationship. As far as homosexuality is concerned, Moore’s uptight friends overlook the obvious orientation of a visiting art critic. Quaid, on the other hand, explodes at his wife when he hears rumors she has even befriended a Black man: “Do you have idea what this can do to the reputation of me, you and our children and the company?!” That last part got a genuine laugh from me.
The performances are solid throughout. It is especially odd to see Quaid so realistically portray a deeply troubled and closeted man. Moore completely disappears into her role, as she almost always does. Davis is good in a limited role but, between this and The Help, she was probably tired of playing…well, the help. Haysbert fares the best of the cast, in a quiet and contemplative performance which seems to channel Rock Hudson.
Which is appropriate, as Far from Heaven is an intentional tribute to the Douglas Sirk’s melodramas of the 50’s, many of which starred Hudson. The DeLuxe color system gave those pictures an odd, yet distinctive, appearance, where the image was dominated by teal, peach-rose and brown. That is emulated here but, as the odd hues are no longer an inherent property of the film stock, what we see is an odd effect which felt off to me. Honestly, something felt a bit forced and artificial about most of the film, which seems to be more in line with an era and a style than having a story it felt needed to be told. All that said, it is still recommended.
Dir: Todd Haynes
Starring Julianne Moore, Dennis Quaid, Dennis Haysbert
Watched on Kino Lorber blu-ray