Yesterday, the fiercest holiday mama of all time! Today, a lonely and horny yuletide lesbian. In director Todd Haynes’ Carol, Cate Blanchett plays the yuletide-appropriate title character; a mid-century upper class wife and mother whose marriage has turned bitter and cold because the lady just can’t help expressing her queerness, to the horror of her upstanding husband. She meets and pursues the young Terese, played by Rooney Mara, and asks her to spend the afternoon with her picking out a Christmas tree and wrapping presents.
We wrote an examination of the costume design for the film, by the legendary Sandy Powell, here. In it, we talked about how Carol’s silhouette tends to loom over the smaller Terese, helped along by costume choices like this massive coat, which also signals her wealth. But as this shot handily signals, what’s happening here is a seduction, so it’s what’s under the coat that matters most.
Carol spends the entire film in highly fitted suits. This is the only time she wears a dress and it’s extremely notable for several reasons. First, it’s the loosest, most freeing garment she wears in the film. Second, it’s fitted and shot in such a way so that, to be blunt, her ass and breasts are highlighted. It’s subtle, because we’re not really in the realm of the male gaze right now, but as we said, this dress is a seduction and the emphasis on the body underneath illustrates how Terese sees her.
While the dress is exceedingly simple, the styling ensures and underlines her own respectability. Yes, she’s barefoot in her living room seducing a young shop girl, but she’s bedecked in pearls, with a flawless manicure and ‘do.
When her husband unexpectedly comes home, confronts her angrily and scoops up their daughter to take her away for the holidays, Carol immediately throws on a cardigan and puts her shoes back on. The look may be respectable to a fault, but she knows what she’s doing and so does her husband. Her Christmas sexy dress is now her shame.
All of its power to hypnotize and seduce the young women is immediately stripped out of it.
Next up: A Christmas songstress!
[Photo Credit: Courtesy of StudioCanal]
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Timothée Chalamet and Kylie Jenner at the MARTY SUPREME Los Angeles Premiere
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Timothée Chalamet and Kylie Jenner at the MARTY SUPREME Los Angeles Premiere
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Christmas Movie Dress Advent Calendar Day 24: Vera Ellen in WHITE CHRISTMAS
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Christmas Movie Dress Advent Calendar Day 23: Judy Garland in MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS
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Christmas Movie Dress Advent Calendar Day 22: Barbara Stanwyck in CHRISTMAS IN CONNECTICUT
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