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MOVIES / ON DVD / FAR FROM HEAVEN
Far From Heaven

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Far From Heaven (2002)

91%
94%
84%
N/A
N/A
N/A
91 %
Reviews Counted: 180 Fresh: 164  Rotten:16 Average Rating: 8.2/10
 
Consensus: An exquisitely designed and performed melodrama, Far From Heaven earns its viewers' tears with sincerity and intelligence.
 

How does the Tomatometer work?

The Tomatometer measures the percentage of positive reviews from Approved Tomatometer Critics for a certain movie.[-]

Runtime: 1 hr 48 mins

Theatrical Release: Nov 8, 2002 Limited

Box Office: $15,776,481

Synopsis: The model marriage of Frank (Dennis Quaid) and Cathy Whitaker (Julianne Moore) in 1950s Hartford is depicted in television ads, and a magazine features photographs of Cathy as a model homemaker and citizen. Yet, behind the curtains of their dream home, Cathy and Frank hide scandalous... The model marriage of Frank (Dennis Quaid) and Cathy Whitaker (Julianne Moore) in 1950s Hartford is depicted in television ads, and a magazine features photographs of Cathy as a model homemaker and citizen. Yet, behind the curtains of their dream home, Cathy and Frank hide scandalous secrets. Frank has been masquerading his homosexuality and is seeing a doctor for a heterosexual conversion. Meanwhile, Cathy finds solace in her gardener, Raymond (Dennis Haysbert), a black man about whom Cathy must conceal her growing feelings, since simply being seen with him is cause for scandal. Filmmaker Douglas Sirk employed the trappings of the melodrama to satirize and criticize narrow minds in the 1950s status quo with films such as ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS. Todd Haynes (SAFE) uses Sirk's highly stylized universe to critique society half a century later in FAR FROM HEAVEN. The film uses thematic elements of Sirk's such as isolating characters through windows and vivid, symbolic colors and flowers. It also applies Sirkian plot devices such as gossiping neighbors and demonizing television. Attacking prejudice, Haynes' methods are particularly effective as he uses an antiquated style of filmmaking to shed light on societal problems that are pervasive even in the 21st Century. [More]

Genre: Dramas

Starring: Julianne Moore, Dennis Quaid, Dennis Haysbert, Patricia Clarkson, James Rebhorn

Director: Todd Haynes
Screenwriter: Todd Haynes
Producer: Jody Patton, Christine Vachon
Composer: Elmer Bernstein

DVD Info

Release:

Apr 1, 2003

[DVD Details]

Buy It On DVD

Reviews

 
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Ratings Image
N/A

An accomplished marriage of elaborate style and content.

Full Review | comment Comment
02/11/08
David Rooney
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
4/5

An obsessive triumph of design and tribute, beautifully acted ... but this stuff was somehow more fun in the '50s.

Full Review | comment Comment
02/03/08
Rob Gonsalves
eFilmCritic.com
Ratings Image
3/4

Click to read the article

Full Review | comment Comment
07/14/07
Joe Lozito
Big Picture Big Sound
Ratings Image
N/A

Exultant in both its artifice and its cruel honesty, it's a movie Sirk would make today - and, as such, it's quite brilliant.

Full Review | comment Comment
01/26/06
Geoff Andrew
Time Out
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3.5/5

Moore is simply...wonderful.

Full Review | comment Comment
12/06/05
Tim Merrill
Film Threat
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4/5

The film confronts the era’s intolerance with regard to gender and race relations, but it should be noted that Haynes films without a trace of irony. The actors offer similarly genuine performances.

Full Review | comment Comment
12/06/05
Darrin Keene
Film Threat
Ratings Image
B

The best reason to see Far from Heaven is to watch Julianne Moore give one of her finest performances.

Full Review | comment Comment
12/06/04
Jeffrey Overstreet
Looking Closer
Ratings Image
0/10

An ignorant, false, bigoted, boring, pretentious film that could have been made by Eisenstein in the Kremlin under Joseph Stalin in 1938.

Full Review | comment Comment
10/07/04
Tony Medley
tonymedley.com
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3.5/5

Boldly goes where no 50's melodrama has gone before.

Full Review | comment Comment
08/13/04
Mark Sells
Oregon Herald
Ratings Image
4/4

It's a rare thing when a movie makes you react emotionally to the repressive taboos of a past decade while...provoking you to reconsider the attitudes of present society.

Full Review | comment Comment
06/23/04
Judith Egerton
Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY)
Ratings Image
3/5

A recriação do estilo de Douglas Sirk é interessante, mas soa como mero artifício de Haynes. Já a subtrama envolvendo Quaid (e a bela atuação deste) engrandecem o filme.

comment Comment
06/07/04
Pablo Villaca
Cinema em Cena
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85/100

Click to read the article

Full Review | comment Comment
03/16/04
Apollo Guide
Ratings Image
N/A

An arid, faux-antique melodrama done in the style of 1950s director Douglas Sirk....Lacks a heart, or at least one with a measurable pulse.

Full Review | comment Comment
02/16/04
Thomas Delapa
Boulder Weekly
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review | comment Comment
02/01/04
FilmStew.com
Ratings Image
B+

It would have been easy for Haynes to turn the film into a campy spoof of repressed 1950s culture, and it's to his great credit that he doesn't take the easy way out.

Full Review | comment Comment
09/06/03
Josh Bell
Las Vegas Weekly
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N/A

Not only one of the finest American films of last year but one that repudiates all the attempts by conservative America to turn back the clock to a desperate and unhappy past.

Full Review | comment Comment
07/07/03
Louis Proyect
rec.arts.movies.reviews
Ratings Image
N/A

Lejos del paraíso es al mismo tiempo una fiesta para los ojos y oídos y un movilizador cuadro de personajes enfrentados a sus propios deseos, miedos y prejuicios.

Full Review | comment Comment
06/30/03
Enrique Buchichio
Uruguay Total
Ratings Image
2/4

Next time, here’s hoping Todd Haynes remembers the difference between a feather and a sledgehammer.

Full Review | comment Comment
06/26/03
Nick Rogers
State Journal-Register (Springfield, IL)
Ratings Image
3.5/4

Click to read the article

Full Review | comment Comment
05/20/03
Susan Tavernetti
Palo Alto Weekly
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review | comment Comment
05/13/03
Wilson Morales
BlackFilm.com
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REEL_REVIEWER
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News

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Celebrated director Todd Haynes has taken on a rather ... experimental project this time around. He'll have seven...

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