Far from Heaven
Encyclopedia
Far from Heaven is a 2002 drama film
written and directed by Todd Haynes
and starring Julianne Moore
, Dennis Quaid
, Dennis Haysbert
, and Patricia Clarkson
.
The film tells the story of Cathy Whitaker, a 1950s housewife, living in suburban Hartford as she sees her seemingly perfect life begin to fall apart. It is done in the style of a Douglas Sirk
film (especially 1955's All That Heaven Allows
and 1959's Imitation of Life
), dealing with complex contemporary issues such as race, gender roles, sexual orientation
and class
.
The film was nominated for several Academy Awards: for Best Actress in a Leading Role (Julianne Moore), Best Original Screenplay (Todd Haynes), Best Cinematography (Edward Lachman), and Best Original Score (Elmer Bernstein).
an Connecticut
, Cathy Whitaker (Julianne Moore
), appears to be the perfect wife, mother, and homemaker
. Cathy is married to Frank (Dennis Quaid
), a successful executive at Magnatech, a company selling television advertising. One evening Cathy receives a phone call from the local police who are holding her husband. He says it's all a mix up but they won't let him leave alone. Cathy is preparing for her annual party with her best friend, Eleanor Fine (Patricia Clarkson
). One day Cathy spies an unknown black man walking through her garden. He turns out to be Raymond Deagan (Dennis Haysbert
), the son of Cathy's late gardener.
Frank finds himself forced to stay late at the office, swamped with work. One evening, however, he enters an underground bar filled with single men. Meanwhile, Cathy and Raymond develop a friendship. One night when Frank is working late Cathy decides to bring his dinner to him at the office. She walks in on him passionately kissing another man. Frank confesses having had 'problems' as a young man, and agrees to see psychiatrist
Dr. Bowman (James Rebhorn
) in the hope of being "converted back" to heterosexuality
. His relationship with Cathy is irreparably strained, however, and he turns to alcohol. At an art show of her friend, Cathy unexpectedly meets Raymond, where she spends much of her day talking to him, setting the town ablaze with gossip. One night, after a party, Frank attempts to make love to Cathy. He is unable to become aroused and strikes Cathy when she tries to console him. Unable to comprehend the destruction of her marriage, Cathy turns to Raymond for comfort. He takes her on a ride to his part of the town where she meets other black people.
As Cathy sees her once idyllic world falling apart, she begins to form an even greater attachment to Raymond, but their non-intimate relationship has violent consequences for Raymond's daughter, Sarah, who is attacked by three white boys who are not prosecuted. The Deagan home is also vandalized. When Cathy reveals her marriage problems to Eleanor, she clearly disapproves of Cathy's perceived romance with a colored man. At the same time Frank, unable to suppress his homosexual desires, falls in love with another man and seeks a divorce
from Cathy. Raymond decides to move away with his daughter to avoid further troubles for both himself and Cathy. In the last scene, Cathy goes to the train station to see off Raymond and say her silent goodbye to him.
Haynes wrote the script envisioning Moore and James Gandolfini
as Cathy and Frank, respectively. While Moore joined the project immediately, Gandolfini was unavailable due to The Sopranos
. Haynes' next choice, Russell Crowe
, believed that the role was too small, and Jeff Bridges
wanted too much money.
. Haynes created color palettes for every scene in the film and was careful and particular in his choices. Haynes emphasizes experience with color in such scenes as one in which Cathy, Eleanor, and their friends are all dressed in reds, oranges, yellows, browns, and greens. Haynes also plays with the color green, using it to light forbidden and mysterious scenes. He employs this effect both in the scene in which Frank visits a gay bar and when Cathy goes to the restaurant in a predominately black neighborhood.
Haynes also uses shots and angles that would have been standard in Sirk's films and era. Cinematographer Edward Lachman
created the 1950s "look" with the same type of lighting techniques and lighting equipment (incandescent), and employs lens filters that would have been used in a 1950s-era melodrama
. The script employs over-the-top, melodramatic dialogue, and Elmer Bernstein's score is reminiscent of those he had composed 40 and 50 years earlier. The sound, done by Kelley Baker, also uses a lot of foley
to make more prominent the sound of rustling clothes and loud footsteps, a sound technique that was used more in 1950-era film.
In the commentary, Haynes notes that he was also influenced by Rainer Werner Fassbinder
's film Ali: Fear Eats the Soul
. As in Fassbinder's film, in Far from Heaven Haynes portrays feelings of alienation and awkwardness. For example, instead of cutting to the next scene, Haynes sometimes lingers on a character for a few seconds longer than comfortable to the viewer, the same technique used by Fassbinder.
Another notable feature is when Cathy drives her car through town. Rather than filming inside the car as it actually moves, the car is filmed still with artificial backgrounds seen through the windows, reminiscent of older films. On the DVD commentary, Haynes states that one of these scenes re-uses the artificial background first used in a scene from All That Heaven Allows
.
of 2002, where Far From Heaven won for best picture, Julianne Moore for best lead performance and Todd Haynes for best director and best original screenplay. Edward Lachman's work in Far From Heaven also won best cinematography by a wide margin while Dennis Quaid, Patricia Clarkson and Dennis Haysbert were all recognized for their supporting performances in Far From Heaven, placing second, fourth and ninth, respectively.
Far From Heaven was nominated for four Academy Awards. The film was nominated for over 100 other awards and won approximately 30 of them.
Academy Awards
Nominations
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards
Wins
Nominations
Chlotrudis Awards
Wins
Nominations
Golden Globes
Nominations
Independent Spirit Awards
Wins
National Board of Review
Wins
New York Film Critics Circle Awards
Wins
Online Film Critics Society Awards
Wins
Nominations
Screen Actors Guild Awards
Nominations
Writers Guild of America Awards
Nominations
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
written and directed by Todd Haynes
Todd Haynes
Todd Haynes is an American independent film director and screenwriter. He is best known for his feature films Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story, Poison, Velvet Goldmine, Safe, and the Academy Award-nominated Far from Heaven and I'm Not There.- Style and themes :The writes that "Haynes is...
and starring Julianne Moore
Julianne Moore
Julianne Moore is an American actress and a children's book author. Throughout her career, she has been nominated for four Oscars, six Golden Globes, three BAFTAs and nine Screen Actors Guild Awards....
, Dennis Quaid
Dennis Quaid
Dennis William Quaid is an American actor known for his comedic and dramatic roles. First gaining widespread attention in the 1980s, his career rebounded in the 1990s after he overcame an addiction to drugs and an eating disorder...
, Dennis Haysbert
Dennis Haysbert
Dennis Dexter Haysbert is an American film and television actor. He is known for portraying baseball player Pedro Cerrano in the Major League film trilogy, President David Palmer on the American television series 24, and Sergeant Major Jonas Blane on the drama series The Unit, as well as his work...
, and Patricia Clarkson
Patricia Clarkson
Patricia Davies Clarkson is an American actress. After studying drama on the East Coast, Clarkson launched her acting career in 1985, and has worked steadily in both film and television. She twice won the Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress in Six Feet Under...
.
The film tells the story of Cathy Whitaker, a 1950s housewife, living in suburban Hartford as she sees her seemingly perfect life begin to fall apart. It is done in the style of a Douglas Sirk
Douglas Sirk
Douglas Sirk was a Danish-German film director best known for his work in Hollywood melodramas in the 1950s.-Life and work:...
film (especially 1955's All That Heaven Allows
All That Heaven Allows
All That Heaven Allows is a romance feature film starring Jane Wyman and Rock Hudson in a tale about a well-to-do widow and a younger landscape designer falling in love. The screenplay was written by Peg Fenwick based upon a story by Edna L. Lee and Harry Lee...
and 1959's Imitation of Life
Imitation of Life (1959 film)
Imitation of Life is a 1959 American film directed by Douglas Sirk, produced by Ross Hunter and released by Universal Pictures, starring Lana Turner and John Gavin and features Sandra Dee, Dan O'Herlihy, Susan Kohner, Robert Alda and Juanita Moore as Annie Johnson. Gospel music star Mahalia Jackson...
), dealing with complex contemporary issues such as race, gender roles, sexual orientation
Sexual orientation
Sexual orientation describes a pattern of emotional, romantic, or sexual attractions to the opposite sex, the same sex, both, or neither, and the genders that accompany them. By the convention of organized researchers, these attractions are subsumed under heterosexuality, homosexuality,...
and class
Social class
Social classes are economic or cultural arrangements of groups in society. Class is an essential object of analysis for sociologists, political scientists, economists, anthropologists and social historians. In the social sciences, social class is often discussed in terms of 'social stratification'...
.
The film was nominated for several Academy Awards: for Best Actress in a Leading Role (Julianne Moore), Best Original Screenplay (Todd Haynes), Best Cinematography (Edward Lachman), and Best Original Score (Elmer Bernstein).
Plot
In 1957 suburbSuburb
The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...
an Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
, Cathy Whitaker (Julianne Moore
Julianne Moore
Julianne Moore is an American actress and a children's book author. Throughout her career, she has been nominated for four Oscars, six Golden Globes, three BAFTAs and nine Screen Actors Guild Awards....
), appears to be the perfect wife, mother, and homemaker
Homemaker
Homemaking is a mainly American term for the management of a home, otherwise known as housework, housekeeping or household management...
. Cathy is married to Frank (Dennis Quaid
Dennis Quaid
Dennis William Quaid is an American actor known for his comedic and dramatic roles. First gaining widespread attention in the 1980s, his career rebounded in the 1990s after he overcame an addiction to drugs and an eating disorder...
), a successful executive at Magnatech, a company selling television advertising. One evening Cathy receives a phone call from the local police who are holding her husband. He says it's all a mix up but they won't let him leave alone. Cathy is preparing for her annual party with her best friend, Eleanor Fine (Patricia Clarkson
Patricia Clarkson
Patricia Davies Clarkson is an American actress. After studying drama on the East Coast, Clarkson launched her acting career in 1985, and has worked steadily in both film and television. She twice won the Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress in Six Feet Under...
). One day Cathy spies an unknown black man walking through her garden. He turns out to be Raymond Deagan (Dennis Haysbert
Dennis Haysbert
Dennis Dexter Haysbert is an American film and television actor. He is known for portraying baseball player Pedro Cerrano in the Major League film trilogy, President David Palmer on the American television series 24, and Sergeant Major Jonas Blane on the drama series The Unit, as well as his work...
), the son of Cathy's late gardener.
Frank finds himself forced to stay late at the office, swamped with work. One evening, however, he enters an underground bar filled with single men. Meanwhile, Cathy and Raymond develop a friendship. One night when Frank is working late Cathy decides to bring his dinner to him at the office. She walks in on him passionately kissing another man. Frank confesses having had 'problems' as a young man, and agrees to see psychiatrist
Psychiatrist
A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. All psychiatrists are trained in diagnostic evaluation and in psychotherapy...
Dr. Bowman (James Rebhorn
James Rebhorn
James Robert Rebhorn is an American character actor who has appeared in over 100 television shows, feature films and plays.-Personal life:...
) in the hope of being "converted back" to heterosexuality
Heterosexuality
Heterosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the opposite sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, heterosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, physical or romantic attractions to persons of the opposite sex";...
. His relationship with Cathy is irreparably strained, however, and he turns to alcohol. At an art show of her friend, Cathy unexpectedly meets Raymond, where she spends much of her day talking to him, setting the town ablaze with gossip. One night, after a party, Frank attempts to make love to Cathy. He is unable to become aroused and strikes Cathy when she tries to console him. Unable to comprehend the destruction of her marriage, Cathy turns to Raymond for comfort. He takes her on a ride to his part of the town where she meets other black people.
As Cathy sees her once idyllic world falling apart, she begins to form an even greater attachment to Raymond, but their non-intimate relationship has violent consequences for Raymond's daughter, Sarah, who is attacked by three white boys who are not prosecuted. The Deagan home is also vandalized. When Cathy reveals her marriage problems to Eleanor, she clearly disapproves of Cathy's perceived romance with a colored man. At the same time Frank, unable to suppress his homosexual desires, falls in love with another man and seeks a divorce
Divorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...
from Cathy. Raymond decides to move away with his daughter to avoid further troubles for both himself and Cathy. In the last scene, Cathy goes to the train station to see off Raymond and say her silent goodbye to him.
Cast
- Julianne MooreJulianne MooreJulianne Moore is an American actress and a children's book author. Throughout her career, she has been nominated for four Oscars, six Golden Globes, three BAFTAs and nine Screen Actors Guild Awards....
as Cathy Whitaker - Dennis QuaidDennis QuaidDennis William Quaid is an American actor known for his comedic and dramatic roles. First gaining widespread attention in the 1980s, his career rebounded in the 1990s after he overcame an addiction to drugs and an eating disorder...
as Frank Whitaker - Dennis HaysbertDennis HaysbertDennis Dexter Haysbert is an American film and television actor. He is known for portraying baseball player Pedro Cerrano in the Major League film trilogy, President David Palmer on the American television series 24, and Sergeant Major Jonas Blane on the drama series The Unit, as well as his work...
as Raymond Deagan - Patricia ClarksonPatricia ClarksonPatricia Davies Clarkson is an American actress. After studying drama on the East Coast, Clarkson launched her acting career in 1985, and has worked steadily in both film and television. She twice won the Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress in Six Feet Under...
as Eleanor Fine - Viola DavisViola DavisViola Davis is an American actress.Known primarily as a stage actress, Davis won a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play and a Drama Desk Award for her role in King Hedley II . She won a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play for her role in the...
as Sybil - James RebhornJames RebhornJames Robert Rebhorn is an American character actor who has appeared in over 100 television shows, feature films and plays.-Personal life:...
as Dr. Bowman - Michael GastonMichael GastonMichael Gaston is an American film and television actor. He played agent Quinn on the show Prison Break. He appeared as Gray Anderson on the CBS drama series Jericho. He also appeared in the first season of The Sopranos as a compulsive gambler in trouble with Tony...
as Stan Fine - Ryan Ward as David Whitaker
- Lindsay Andretta as Janice Whitaker
- Jordan Puryear as Sarah Deagan
- Celia WestonCelia WestonCelia Weston is an American actress of stage, film and television, and a character actress. Professionally, she may be best known for her role as Jolene Hunnicutt on Alice.-Life and career:...
as Mona Lauder - Barbara GarrickBarbara GarrickBarbara Garrick is an American actress who portrayed DeDe Halcyon Day in the three television miniseries based on Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City novels. She was nominated for a Gemini Award in 1999 for Further Tales of the City.Garrick was born in Los Angeles, California and graduated from...
as Doreen - J.B. AdamsJ.B. AdamsJ.B. Adams is an American character stage and film actor, director and singer. He has credits in film, television and, most notably, musical theatre. Originally from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, he attended Oklahoma City University, where he studied voice, piano, opera, and musical theatre, after...
as Morris Farnsworth
Haynes wrote the script envisioning Moore and James Gandolfini
James Gandolfini
James J. Gandolfini, Jr. is an Italian American actor. He is best known for his role as Tony Soprano in the HBO TV series The Sopranos, about a troubled crime boss struggling to balance his family life and career in the Mafia...
as Cathy and Frank, respectively. While Moore joined the project immediately, Gandolfini was unavailable due to The Sopranos
The Sopranos
The Sopranos is an American television drama series created by David Chase that revolves around the New Jersey-based Italian-American mobster Tony Soprano and the difficulties he faces as he tries to balance the often conflicting requirements of his home life and the criminal organization he heads...
. Haynes' next choice, Russell Crowe
Russell Crowe
Russell Ira Crowe is a New Zealander Australian actor , film producer and musician. He came to international attention for his role as Roman General Maximus Decimus Meridius in the 2000 historical epic film Gladiator, directed by Ridley Scott, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Actor, a...
, believed that the role was too small, and Jeff Bridges
Jeff Bridges
Jeffrey Leon "Jeff" Bridges is an American actor and musician. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Otis "Bad" Blake in the 2009 film Crazy Heart....
wanted too much money.
Style
Far from Heaven is made in the style of many 1950s films, notably those of Douglas SirkDouglas Sirk
Douglas Sirk was a Danish-German film director best known for his work in Hollywood melodramas in the 1950s.-Life and work:...
. Haynes created color palettes for every scene in the film and was careful and particular in his choices. Haynes emphasizes experience with color in such scenes as one in which Cathy, Eleanor, and their friends are all dressed in reds, oranges, yellows, browns, and greens. Haynes also plays with the color green, using it to light forbidden and mysterious scenes. He employs this effect both in the scene in which Frank visits a gay bar and when Cathy goes to the restaurant in a predominately black neighborhood.
Haynes also uses shots and angles that would have been standard in Sirk's films and era. Cinematographer Edward Lachman
Edward Lachman
Edward Lachman A.S.C. is an American cinematographer. Lachman is mostly associated with the American independent film movement, and has served as director of photography on films by Todd Haynes and I'm Not There in 2007 and Steven Soderbergh such as Erin Brockovich ...
created the 1950s "look" with the same type of lighting techniques and lighting equipment (incandescent), and employs lens filters that would have been used in a 1950s-era melodrama
Melodrama
The term melodrama refers to a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them...
. The script employs over-the-top, melodramatic dialogue, and Elmer Bernstein's score is reminiscent of those he had composed 40 and 50 years earlier. The sound, done by Kelley Baker, also uses a lot of foley
Foley artist
Foley is the reproduction of everyday sounds for use in filmmaking. These reproduced sounds can be anything from the swishing of clothing and footsteps to squeaky doors and breaking glass. The best foley art is so well integrated into a film that it goes unnoticed by the audience. It helps to...
to make more prominent the sound of rustling clothes and loud footsteps, a sound technique that was used more in 1950-era film.
In the commentary, Haynes notes that he was also influenced by Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Rainer Werner Maria Fassbinder was a German movie director, screenwriter and actor. He is considered one of the most important representatives of the New German Cinema.He maintained a frenetic pace in film-making...
's film Ali: Fear Eats the Soul
Ali: Fear Eats the Soul
Ali: Fear Eats the Soul is a 1974 West German film written and directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder and starring Brigitte Mira and El Hedi ben Salem. The film won two awards at the 1974 Cannes Film Festival and is considered to be one of Fassbinder's most powerful works...
. As in Fassbinder's film, in Far from Heaven Haynes portrays feelings of alienation and awkwardness. For example, instead of cutting to the next scene, Haynes sometimes lingers on a character for a few seconds longer than comfortable to the viewer, the same technique used by Fassbinder.
Another notable feature is when Cathy drives her car through town. Rather than filming inside the car as it actually moves, the car is filmed still with artificial backgrounds seen through the windows, reminiscent of older films. On the DVD commentary, Haynes states that one of these scenes re-uses the artificial background first used in a scene from All That Heaven Allows
All That Heaven Allows
All That Heaven Allows is a romance feature film starring Jane Wyman and Rock Hudson in a tale about a well-to-do widow and a younger landscape designer falling in love. The screenplay was written by Peg Fenwick based upon a story by Edna L. Lee and Harry Lee...
.
Awards
The film did extraordinarily well in the Village Voices Film Critics' PollVillage Voice Film Poll
The Village Voice Film Poll is an annual polling by The Village Voice film section of more than 100 major film critics for alternative media sources. Although the majority of the critics work for the alt-weeklies, a number are former Voice critics who now work for the mainstream media or have...
of 2002, where Far From Heaven won for best picture, Julianne Moore for best lead performance and Todd Haynes for best director and best original screenplay. Edward Lachman's work in Far From Heaven also won best cinematography by a wide margin while Dennis Quaid, Patricia Clarkson and Dennis Haysbert were all recognized for their supporting performances in Far From Heaven, placing second, fourth and ninth, respectively.
Far From Heaven was nominated for four Academy Awards. The film was nominated for over 100 other awards and won approximately 30 of them.
Academy Awards
Nominations
- Best Actress in a Leading Role - Julianne Moore
- Best Original Screenplay - Todd Haynes
- Best Cinematography - Edward Lachman
- Best Original Score - Elmer Bernstein
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards
Wins
- Best Picture
- Best Director - Todd Haynes
- Best Actress - Julianne Moore
- Best Supporting Actor - Dennis Quaid
- Best Cinematography - Edward Lachman
- Best Original Score - Elmer Bernstein
Nominations
- Best Supporting Actress - Patricia Clarkson
- Best Screenplay - Todd Haynes
Chlotrudis Awards
Wins
- Best Movie
- Best Director - Todd Haynes
- Best Supporting Actress - Patricia Clarkson
- Best Cinematography - Edward Lachman
Nominations
- Best Actress - Julianne Moore
- Best Supporting Actor - Dennis Haysbert
- Best Original Screenplay - Todd Haynes
Golden Globes
Nominations
- Best Actress in a Leading Role (Drama) - Julianne Moore
- Best Supporting Actor - Dennis Quaid
- Best Screenplay - Todd Haynes
- Best Original Score - Elmer Bernstein
Independent Spirit Awards
Wins
- Best Feature
- Best Actress - Julianne Moore
- Best Supporting Actor - Dennis Quaid
- Best Director - Todd Haynes
- Best Cinematography - Edward Lachman
National Board of Review
Wins
- Best Actress - Julianne Moore
New York Film Critics Circle Awards
Wins
- Best Film
- Best Director - Todd Haynes
- Best Supporting Actor - Dennis Quaid
- Best Supporting Actress - Patricia Clarkson
- Best Cinematography - Edward Lachman
Online Film Critics Society Awards
Wins
- Best Actress - Julianne Moore
- Best Supporting Actor - Dennis Quaid
- Best Original Screenplay - Todd Haynes
- Best Cinematography - Edward Lachman
- Best Art Direction
- Best Costume Design - Sandy Powell
- Best Original Score - Elmer Bernstein
Nominations
- Best Picture
- Best Director - Todd Haynes
Screen Actors Guild Awards
Nominations
- Best Actress - Julianne Moore
- Best Supporting Actor - Dennis Quaid
Writers Guild of America Awards
Nominations
- Best Original Screenplay - Todd Haynes