“Carol,” the 2015 Todd Haynes mid-century romance starring Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara, is a perfect Christmas movie — like “Die Hard,” but for lesbians and/or yearners.
A quick synopsis for the unfamiliar, though you really should watch it: After an enchanting holiday-season encounter at a department store, aspiring photographer Therese (Mara) and mysterious, chic soon-to-be divorcée Carol (Blanchett) get drawn to each other like moths to flames, despite circumstances that should make it impossible for the two women to be happy together. Their love affair, born during the height of American McCarthyism, is forbidden by the powers that be as much as it is by the men who make Therese and Carol unhappy.
On its face, it is not the sort of movie that would inspire a devout fanbase. It is, like many an Oscar-nominated film, contemplative, quiet, and melancholy. But past and future attendees of the second annual Carol Day — to be held this Saturday, December 21st at the Roxie Theater by local LGBTQ film organization Frameline — would beg to differ. (December 21st, by the way, is the day that Carol invites Therese to her New Jersey home — only to be foiled by Carol's pesky husband, Harge.)
“I think that Todd Haynes really brings a queer lens to this story, and it’s a real argument for the existence of a queer way of moviemaking,” Frameline executive director Allegra Madsen told Gazetteer SF. “And I think that it's also a lesbian movie that doesn't necessarily have a tragic ending. I think that's really profoundly important.”
That happy — or at least, not sad — ending is important, explained my friend Sarah Scannell, marketing and communications manager at SF-based production company Citizen Film. She is the preeminent “Carol” expert in my life, and has seen “Carol” upwards of 30 times since it came out in 2015.
Scannell raised the incredibly common trope of LGBTQ media — and lesbian media, in particular — that tragically kills off their main characters. There’s been enough of these sad lesbian period pieces, she reminded me, that the phenomenon has been lampooned on “SNL.”
“'Carol' doesn't end in a really happy, sweeping, like they've defeated everyone way,” Scannell explained. “I heard somebody once describe it as ending with possibility as opposed to ending happily and the fact that we’re like, ‘That's enough,’ says a lot about what else is out there.”
It also really, really helps that Cate Blanchett puts on one hell of a performance, all intense gazes and longing. (Madsen, during our interview, blanked on Rooney Mara’s name. “Is it Rooney Mara?” Madsen joked. “Obviously, I’m only looking in one direction.”)
They are not alone in her devotion: During last year’s inaugural celebration of all things Carol, Madsen said, they “basically sold out.” People dressed up in holiday apparel and “Carol” cosplay: furs and gloves. One person dressed up as a literal black glove — the key item in Carol and Therese’s first encounter.
And this year, not to be outdone, the Carol-bration will feature drag artist Clint Taurus and comedian Bex Delay — with an afterparty at queer femme bar Mother, so that attendees can “hang out and be gay together” with martinis, Madsen joked.
As Madsen points out, the holidays tend to be a fraught time for queer people. The space to geek out on this film exists in the spirit of other queer holiday: drag Golden Girls or the Gay Men’s Chorus’ Christmas revue.
But it is an explicitly Sapphic one, which makes it a refreshing change for many of San Francisco’s queer women. San Francisco may be famously gay, but spaces carved out explicitly for lesbians and femmes are few and far between here.
“We, all in our own solitude, watch this movie every year anyway, so it's great to do it with other people and be in a rowdy, fun audience who also wants to heckle Harge,” Frameline staffer Kate Bove said.
Tickets to Carol Day at the Roxie Theater this Saturday are still available, but are close to selling out, according to Frameline.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated at 8:30 p.m. at December 22, 2024 to reflect that December 21st is not the date of Therese and Carol’s glove lunch. It is when Carol invites Therese to her house in New Jersey, only to get busted by her soon-to-be ex-husband.
