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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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