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In this episode, I explore Todd Haynes’s 2002 film, “Far From Heaven.” It’s an homage to 1950s melodramas and stars Julianne Moore as Cathy Whitaker, a Connecticut housewife who develops a deep connection to her African American gardener (Dennis Haysbert) while her marriage starts to crumble when her husband (Dennis Quaid) starts struggling with his repressed homosexuality. I talk about melodrama, woman’s films, Douglas Sirk, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, how the film looks at race, sexuality, and gender, and much more! Spoilers are in this episode.
Full Show Notes:
- My episode on Birth
- Douglas Sirk films: All That Heaven Allows, Written on the Wind,Magnificent Obsession, Imitation of Life
- Frida by Julie Taymor
- The Hours by Stephen Daldry
- Melodrama
- Woman’s film
- Rainer Werner Fassbinder
- Ali: Fear Eats the Soul by Fassbinder
- My Safe episode
- “Shallow” by Lady Gaga
- “Hey Jupiter” by Tori Amos
- My episode on Brief Encounter
- Carol by Todd Haynes
All My Sources
- Todd Haynes: Interviews (Conversations with Filmmakers Series), edited by Julia Leyda
- Todd Haynes: From Fassbinder to Sirk and Back (A 2003 interview with the Criterion Collection)
- Todd Haynes interview with BBC
- Julianne Moore interview with Film Monthly
- Douglas Sirk interview with Film Comment
- Richard Brody – “Douglas Sirk’s Glorious Cinema of Outsiders” (The New Yorker)
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