The movie has the sense of being embalmed, or pickled.
Comment
11/15/02
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Far From Heaven (2002)
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Reviews Counted:184
Fresh:167
Rotten:17
Average Rating:8.2/10
Consensus: An exquisitely designed and performed melodrama, Far From Heaven earns its viewers' tears with sincerity and intelligence.
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... [More]
Starring: Julianne Moore, Dennis Quaid, Dennis Haysbert, Patricia Clarkson
Director: Todd Haynes
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Reviews for Far From Heaven
Top CriticBecause the film deliberately lacks irony, it has a genuine dramatic impact; it plays like a powerful 1957 drama we've somehow never seen before.
11/15/02
Top CriticVisually this is dazzling which makes the harshness of the discrimination (race, gender and sexual preference) stand out even more. A pretty box filled with ugliness. Outstanding performances, but the ending is weak.
11/15/02
This kind of project often becomes merely a film school exercise; Far From Heaven is much more.
11/14/02
Compelling and engaging without coming off as preachy or melodramatic, the film is solidly told from start to finish.
11/14/02
A film that ought to be seen up close, because there is a lot going on in the details
11/14/02
Both lead performances are Oscar-size. Quaid is utterly fearless as the tortured husband living a painful lie, and Moore wonderfully underplays the long-suffering heroine with an unflappable '50s dignity somewhere between Jane Wyman and June Cleaver.
11/14/02
Hits your heart, tickles your head and gives a little extra bonus to those of us who salivate over cinematography and set design.
11/14/02
Top CriticA 1950s film that could not have been made in the 1950s.
11/14/02
The deep, dark sadness of Haynes' movie casts a beautiful, powerful spell.
11/14/02
Beautifully acted, intelligent film.
11/14/02
This imitation of life comes tantalizingly close to greatness, then settles for being smart without much heart.
11/14/02
Top CriticHaynes stays rapturously within the visual, stylistic and conversational confines of these old movies, but continually blows their plots open.
11/14/02
Moore is absolutely brilliant in this film.
11/14/02
Top CriticBy surrounding us with hyper-artificiality, Haynes makes us see familiar issues, like racism and homophobia, in a fresh way.
11/14/02
Top CriticHaynes has so fanatically fetishized every bizarre old-movie idiosyncrasy with such monastic devotion you're not sure if you should applaud or look into having him committed.
11/12/02
Far From Heaven” is a deeply emotional journey not many moviegoers would be willing to take. But if you are up for the trek - you will not be disappointed at all.
11/11/02
The gloss of the 1950s gets a deeper, darker look in this triumph of style and substance from writer-director Todd Haynes.
11/11/02
This film is a triumph of art direction and acting, with Moore, Quaid and Haysbert giving performances that feel authentic to the time even as they explore subjects and feelings that were at best implied in movies of that period.
11/11/02
Top CriticTodd Haynes' treacly melodrama makes a point. What is it?
11/11/02
Latest News for Far From Heaven
July 18, 2007:
Video Clip of Cate Blanchett as Bob Dylan
Celebrated director Todd Haynes has taken on a rather ... experimental project this time around. He'll have seven different actors playing different "aspects" of songwriter Bob... More...
May 08, 2003:
As the rebel with a cause, Julianne Moore incomparably embodies an exemplary housewife who nearly disintegrates as the values she once treasured become farcical, empty tenets that restrict her happiness instead of safeguarding it. 
More...
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