Far From Heaven - 2002 Film

This is not a genuine movie.

It is a self-loving, self-congratulatory exercise in decor, set decoration and photography.

It is meant for women and homosexuals.

[quote] It is a self-loving, self-congratulatory exercise in decor, set decoration and photography. It is meant for women and homosexuals.

So were Douglas Sirk's movies to which this is a tribute.

I thought Douglas Sirk's movies actually had a smidgen of drama in them (not that I've seen many).

This pastiche is a waxwork.

Busted!

What would Mrs. Stephen Haines have done?

[quote]It is a self-loving, self-congratulatory exercise in decor, set decoration and photography.

In other words, it flew over your dizzy little head.

I worked on it, and am very proud of the look of the film, thank you.

It was a great film. It worked on so many levels.

Yes, it was a satire.

But it also packed a genuine emotional punch.

r6, congrats on a beautiful film! Isn't it true that Julianne was several months pregnant during shooting?

[quote] Isn't it true that Julianne was several months pregnant during shooting?

Seriously?

This was a BEAUTIFUL film R6. You should be proud.

This is my second favorite of their collaborations, Safe is number one and a remarkable movie that will someday be regarded as the masterpiece that it is.

Thank you, I am. If Julianne was pregnant, none of us in costuming knew. Which means, she wasn't- her costumes fit.

OP What a cheap assessment of a fine movie; the scene in which the Quaid character breaks down and says, "I never knew anyone could love me," was heartbreaking and honest in its confusion and discovery.

[quote] I worked on it, and am very proud of the look of the film, thank you.

In that case we can't blame you for its leaden-paced plotting.

It was one and hundred and seven minutes long. Ten minutes longer than Sirk in order to savour the pastiche.

[quote] Quaid character breaks down and says, "I never knew anyone could love me,"

He should have won an Oscar for that, shouldn't he?

Wasn't the plot of this film stolen from Driving Miss Daisy plastered into a Douglas Sirk papier-mâché pastiche?

So this is the referential movie stolen from Douglas Sirk with middle-aged Julianne in Dior dresses staring blankly and wandering around shops.

And wasn't this referential movie remade ten years later with Cate Blanchet in Dior dresses staring blankly and wandering around shops and getting an Oscar for it?

[quote]If Julianne was pregnant, none of us in costuming knew. Which means, she wasn't- her costumes fit.

That is such bullshit. When you know she was pregnant, which she was, you can see how they (the real people in costuming) tried to conceal it with her costumes.

In some scenes, she looks like she weighs 200 pounds, with all the voluminous concealing of her waistline.

She still looks great, but I was very distracted by how BIG she looked, which didn't fit her character.

I loved this film.

Sorry some of you common, basic bitches failed to grasp its meaning.

It wasn't a satire, r7, it was an homage. And Julianne doesn't look preggers.

A great film and heartbreaking

R17, yes, I remember when I went to see it with my parents. A few scenes in, my mom and I looked at one another and said simultaneously, "She's pregnant." LOL at costuming "not knowing"-- everyone else sure did.

I saw this movie at the theater years ago when it first came out and really enjoyed it! MORE!!!

PREGNANT

R21 That woman does NOT have a wasp-waist.

Nancy Mitford could wear Dior.

I remember the Miró painting; not sure if it was this one (Harlequin's Carnival) or not. Really nice production values on the movie.

She was indeed pregnant. How could someone who worked on the film not know that? Also, she hardly kept it a secret when it was released. Some shots it was literally impossible to miss and a bit distracting to be honest. Absolutely gorgeous film though. Don't mean to nitpick. I watch it whenever it comes on and I find it is both heavy and soothing at the same time.

Moore filmed Far From Heaven in October/November 2001. She would have been about 4 - 5 months pregnant. Her daughter was born April 2002.

Haynes wanted to do an homage to Sirk to tell a story that wouldn't have been green-lit back when Sirk was making films, whilst also telling the story with 21st-century hindsight. It was a gorgeous, thoughtful cinematic exercise at a minimum. I haven't watched it in a while.

So many of these posts are about costuming and pregnancy. I think those posters fail to understand the complexity of being gay in the generations before them.

Settle down Beavis r28. I am smart and enough to see all different aspects about a film. I just wanted to help get the record clear that she was indeed pregnant, as someone seemed to think otherwise.

*smart enough

Ahem,

Just not after my second nightcap

R12

You want to run that by us again?

"Julianne Moore was pregnant during the filming of this movie"

Written on the Wind, Imitation of Life, All That Heaven Allows, A Time to Love and a Time to Die..

Got it. Douglas Sirk was king of chick flicks.

The conflict was too one sided, written only from woman's perspective. Did not love.

R32

I'd prefer the original over the pastiche.

I'd rather the Shakespeare over the Maxwell Anderson.

From IMDb link in R31

"Due to Julianne Moore's pregnancy, Sandy Powell commissioned a duplicate of Cathy's party dress, with the pattern modified to fit her, after shooting of the party scene was pushed back to later in the schedule. However, due to budget constraints, duplicating the dress was not an option. The dress was carefully shaded by a member of the wardrobe department to disguise Moore's pregnancy."

I prefer the John Waters version.

Julianne being so hugely pregnant kind of distracted from the idea that her husband wouldn't fuck her because he chose a homosexual lifestyle. He obviously knocked her up good. The leaves and colors of this film are very pretty, but I slept through most of it while some dude milked 3 loads from my dick. That little fruitcup gave a master class in head. Thought he was seducing me with this film I guess. It was very Ricky and Lucy if Ricky were homosexualized and Lucy was fat. Dennis Haysbert was a good choice for someone that she wouldn't succumb too. The leaves were really pretty and all those shades of blue and brown. The head was from Heaven, but this little gay propaganda film only scores a B minus.

R32

Have to give it to Douglas Sirk, he did have an eye for vgl leading men. John Gavin and Rock Hudson, if those two couldn't pull in the fraus no one else could.....

I saw another dreadful little film from the director-manqué of 'Far From Heaven'.

It consisted of anorexic teenagers walking in a circle spitting at each other.

[quote] That little fruitcup gave a master class in head.

Dat's da suck job!

[quote] John Gavin and Rock Hudson

Men's store Mannequin No.2 and Men's store Mannequin No.1.

I remember the NY Times review of Moore's performance standing in for the whole film - she is both acting realistically in the mood of the time and playing it ironically.

Todd Haynes is a fetishist and a talented one. Completely post modern, structuralist, and has something in common with Paul Verhoeven.

If Rock Hudson isn't hot, then no one is.

Rock Hudson wouldn't have got Julianne pregnant. Not on film!

R43 Completely post modern, structuralist,

Half of DL don't know what that is. Can we get it at Macy's?

Haynes studied in Brown's Semiotics programme, the first one in the USA, in the 80s and 90s, and defunct since the 90s, morphed into something else. Semiotics was one of the terms applied to the structuralists, post-structuralists, and deconstructionist schools of philosophy and political economy, mostly French, with some Italian and Frankfurt School, that infiltrated art and art criticism, and eventually, decades later, morphed into identity studies with a lot less fun and games then they had originally.

There was a little film program in the department. He made the Barbie Superstar movie there and I believe conceived the Genet movie Poison. He has never strayed far from deconstructionist tactics and games - but he is good at it because he gives different viewers what they need to enjoy and feel and think. The movies are not JUST formal exercises. Sirk is one of the kingpins in ironic cinema - meaning Sirk is viewed as having ironic distance (it was once called "distantiation") from his narratives, his characters. Sirk works on different levels, as well.

[quote] both acting realistically in the mood of the time and playing it ironically.

How is that possible, R42, to be two things at the one time?

This film attempted to show two different perceptions of the one love-triangle. Romance vs cool irony in the one story.

I adore Margaret Leighton but the experiment failed ideally. The Ironic perception made the Romantic story seem ludicrous while the Romantic perception made the Ironic love story seem tawdry.

Oh wow, I thought they actually filmed it in Connecticut. It turns out it was done mostly in New Jersey and a bit in New York.

Judy Davis says you have to be immediately suspicious if your movie's director cares more about coiffeur than characters

Playing to 2 different "ways in" to the narrative and characters is what most people argue Sirk achieved. Which is what Haynes was paying homage to.

[quote] Playing to 2 different "ways in" to the narrative and characters is what most people argue Sirk achieved.

Do you think half the audience in a cinema showing Sirk was laughing with the movie while the other half of the audience were laughing at it?

Judy Davis could use a little touch up. She's a mad woman.

Julianne Moore was clearly pregnant during the filming, and if you google Far From Heaven and pregnant you can read numerous articles of her talking about it.

Judy Davis' hair and wigs in most of her films have been horrendous.

Judy Davis is a GODDESS!

Yeah, r56, Medusa comes to mind.

That interview at R54 is interesting.

She says the movie she made with Nettie Bening as her wife actually COST her money to make.

R19 cherry picks ONE still from the movie.

[quote]Julianne being so hugely pregnant kind of distracted from the idea that her husband wouldn't fuck her because he chose a homosexual lifestyle

Her character wasn't pregnant, R37.

Dennis Haysbert deserved the accolades that Dennis Quaid received.

^ Truth. Dennis Quaid always comes across as a sketchy cheating wife beater. That's why Julianne was FAT.

[quote]Oh wow, I thought they actually filmed it in Connecticut. It turns out it was done mostly in New Jersey and a bit in New York.

I knew that because I recognized a number of the locations, including Eagan's Restaurant (which has since been demolished), which was in my brother's old neighborhood.

This is one of my all-time-favorite movies, R6. I appreciate it even if a lot of these evil bitches don't. And I love Julianne Moore -- seriously.

BTW, my father left my mother (and a 25-year marriage) for a man -- in the early 80s, but still -- so the plot's not that far off the mark.

[quote]What would Mrs. Stephen Haines have done?

Thrown a bottle of Jungle Red at him.

I absolutely loved this movie. Todd Haynes is an auteur with a wonderful body of work. Leave it to DL to flog him!

There was an unsubstantiated rumor at the time that Julianne was pregnant during the filming.

Dennis Quaids character being fucked by Dennis Haysbert’s character would have been much more entertaining. Did we really need the wife’s story? No, all of the men fucking Quaids character would have been a better story.

Are you Billie Lourd, R64? Or Elizabeth Smart.

If Julianna was pregnant in the film - why was her husband practicing homosexuality at the movie theatre? Wasn't he happy they were having a child? Dennis Haysbert shouldn't have been a gardner. He could have been a teacher or hardware store owner. This film is so regressive.

I wonder what Jackie O would have done walking in on JFK and Lem in the same scenario. Silly question! She'd have only threw her head back laughing and gone shopping.

For the Haynes fans vs the Haynes hates, he just released his first documentary on The Velvet Underground on AppleTV+.

Though it's only a bit part with a few seconds of screen time, I'd like to credit hot NY theater actor and out bisexual Jonathan Walker as Dennis Quaid's piece on the side. I wish we'd seen more of his character in the film....and I also wish he'd been (at least) shirtless in his one scene.

R52 neither the juicy ripe melodramas nor the cold critiques of American materialism, capitalism yet suffocating conformism, puritanism, racism and hypocrisy, are in Sirks movies to be laughed at. What are you going on about?

True, and very well said, R73. But they are being ironically tweaked in Far From Heaven. I took my friend to that film and he laughed all the way through it. It's a satire first, then an homage.

Don't you get a quick glimpse of his chest when he stands in Quaid's hotel room doorway, R72?

R74 I agree. Haynes made this homage in a different era and we are all free to laugh. Of cours there are many caustic black "overdetermined" moments In Sirk that can make one smile. When rich widow Cary Scott's kids give her the TV for Christmas - you kind of have to smile at the horror - because what she wants his love and COCK. Young hard cock. At least 2 dozen overdetermined moments in Imitation of Life, where Sirk is doling out the critiques in masses doses.

Where in the film is it satirical, r74?

[quote]Where in the film is it satirical?

I recall, at the beginning, the idyllic town is seen and the camera pulls up and back so their entire scene is framed with cherry blossoms. I burst out in laughter when that happened, as it was a very funny satire of how shots in films like that were framed.

Does anyone know if this is currently available on a streaming platform?

It's free on Peacock, r79. I don't know if it's accessible if you don't have Comcast/Xfinity. You can also watch it on Amazon for $3.99.

[quote]If Julianna was pregnant in the film - why was her husband practicing homosexuality at the movie theatre?

R69:

JULIANNE.

WAS.

PREGNANT.

HER.

CHARACTER.

WASN'T.

I don't think Haynes pushed it to the level of satire, r78. He was just replicating it without comment. The lushness never went beyond Sirk's.

[quote]The lushness never went beyond Sirk's.

It didn't need to. That lush sentimentality of the 1950s played as over-the-top already.

Then it was merely replicating it and not satirizing it.

R84 Oh, DO fuck off.

What is up with Julianne Moore's teeth? They look like they were punched inwards. I just watched her in Chloe and was cringing at her appearance. Sorry.

Julianne Moore uses her own teeth. So does Annette Benning. Weird but true.

The definition of satire, r85:

"the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues."

Didn’t Julianne have many pregnant pauses during her performance?

This was an amazing film. Not only acting, production values and costuming, but the SCORE.

So poignant. And many of us never saw the original movies from the 50s, so this was welcome.

So for those of you sneering at it, eff off.

It was fabulous satire.

It's not exactly satire because Haynes adores Sirk.

Something can be two things at once. So many Dataloungers have a problem with this. If Far From Heaven is not a bit satirical - then it's a very silly movie. You can admire someone and lovingly send them up. Film makers and singers do it all the time.

Ryan Ward (played the young son) grew up to be an attractive young man.

Wait, wasn’t this called All That Heaven Will Allow first?

Yes, r95, it was called All That Heaven Allows first. And Patricia Clarkson used to be Agnes Moorehead.

So it was originally called "All That Heaven Will Allows".

But now it's "Far From Heaven".

What does that mean?

Wasn't Salma Hayek in this movie? I love her!

The staging and the lighting were too contemporary - if he was in fact going for an authentic 1950s look. Haynes has done some good work, but this one left me cold.

R38

Robert Stack wasn't too bad in his day either...

In what world would a big ole handsome slab of man be interested in old horse faced Jane Wyman with her Mamie Eisenhower hairdo.

R101 in Douglas Sirk's twisted imagination.

"In what world would a big ole handsome slab of man be interested in old horse faced Jane Wyman with her Mamie Eisenhower hairdo."

I presume that Sirk's fantasy life included big strapping young men who don't care about their partners' looks, or age.

[quote] I presume that Sirk's fantasy… …

I assume that Sirk was obliged to use studio contract players no matter how awful they were.

R2, R7

There's a difference between a tribute and a satire.

Tributes are reverential of the original work whereas satires are mocking. This movie is reverential in terms of decor but empty in terms of character.

Five minutes of this film were spent with crane shots photographing leaves.

But Juliana Moore's character was so poised and gracious...

she was even "kind to Negros"

[quote]In what world would a big ole handsome slab of man be interested in old horse faced Jane Wyman with her Mamie Eisenhower hairdo.

Meanwhile in the real world...

Jane Wyman spent a lot of time rubbing her nub in front of new Magnavox TV...

[quote]in Douglas Sirk's twisted imagination.

I don't know about Mr. Sirk's imagination...

But he always brought big handsome strapping Colored gentlemen with him... when we invited him to our White House Dinners.

[quote]And Patricia Clarkson used to be Agnes Moorehead.

But that was before she played Endora on "Bewitched".

[quote] Jane Wyman

Jane starred but the director really wanted svelte, sexy Loretta Young.

[quote]svelte, sexy Loretta Young

Loretta was a Drag Queen...she wore size 13 shoes.

And Loretta always had that breathless way of delivering her lines...

as if she'd been running back and forth between the refrigerator and the buffet

One day I tried to talk to her:

I said, "Retta look, you've gotta stop using that breathy ingenue voice. You're a big strapping middle-aged broad with a Sedan Deville and a goddamned mortgaged now."

She just pushed that fuckin' Catholic swear jar in my face and complained about me to the Assistant Director.

Loretta Young would have made perfect sense in the role! She was mature, but still a heck of a looker, and she'd always been a good actress - better than that limp Jane Wyman.

You'd believe a man in his 30s would be interested in Loretta, at least until he met her obnoxious kids.

[quote] Though it's only a bit part with a few seconds of screen time, I'd like to credit hot NY theater actor and out bisexual Jonathan Walker as Dennis Quaid's piece on the side.

I just realized Jonathan Walker also was the villain Devin Weston in Grand Theft Auto V. (Gaymers on DL will know who I'm referring to.) Nice to know he's out. Yet even in that role as Devin Weston, which made no mention of the character's sexuality, my gaydar went off.

[quote]Though it's only a bit part with a few seconds of screen time, I'd like to credit hot NY theater actor and out bisexual Jonathan Walker as Dennis Quaid's piece on the side.

Maybe only a few seconds on screen...

but he ripped open Dennis Quaid's mussy like a bag of Doritos

Did you see how fey Dennis' character became in the party scene after that deep-dicking?

R61 and R62 I agree! Dennis Quaid is just a better looking but slightly less talented version of Randy Quaid although both of those brothers are pretty douchey!

I see Julianne Moore was chasing that BBC in this movie. LOL Too bad the time period was so fucked up. I have always thought that both Moore and Dennis Haysbert are exceptional actors who are underrated.

Great film! A so-called hidden gem….

R4 That was an uncomfortable scene. And how much casserole did she think he could eat?? She should have known a gay can’t have all those carbs!

Wasn’t quite ready to wake up to all this activity on this thread today.

Dennis just couldn’t say no to the D.

Although it has absolutely nothing to do with this discussion, I’m weirdly impressed with the passionate back and forth about First Nations peoples in this thread. Has DL had any good threads related to them in the past?

I really liked it, Quaid was terrific.

Ignore R122 that was meant for another thread.

[quote] Great film! A so-called hidden gem….

This is not a genuine film, R118.

It is a self-loving, self-congratulatory exercise in decor, set decoration and photography.

It is meant for women and homosexuals.

It's a stunning work of art, not a documentary. Do you think Sirk films were realistic?

Good movies have actors pretending to be real human beings.

This movie is like a Baz Luhrmann movie with fifty people behind the camera fussing and fretting over costumes, coiffure and fripperies.

Quaid plays distraught and very well. And Moore does denial just as fine. I wonder how many married couples in the 1950's went through a similar situation.

There was an off-Broadway musical. It started Steven Pasquale and Kelli O’Hara, who was clearly pregnant. Without the satirical tone of the movie, it played like a genuine (and boring) soap opera with really beautiful singing.

"It is meant for women and homosexuals."

You say that like it's a bad thing.

[quote]It is meant for women and homosexuals.

Something wrong with that?

[quote]It is meant for women and homosexuals.

That is the definition of art.

[quote] That is the definition of art.

(Cecily to Miss Prism) I don’t like novels that end happily. They depress me so much.

(Miss Prism to Cecily) The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what Fiction means.

Was this one of Viola Davis' first films?

[quote] I wonder how many married couples in the 1950's went through a similar situation.

Not as many as you think.

That hair looked so fake. Contemporary Hollywood never gets that era’s women’s hair right in period films. They didn’t blow-dry it, they used hairspray and styling gel, dammit! ;) That hair-don’t looked like it was ready to sashay into Studio 54 after a day of filming ended.

They even had a scene were Dennis Haysbert's Black daughter gets pelted with rocks a la Sarah Jane's beating in Sirk's Imitation of Life when her boyfriend finds out she's Black

Todd Haynes did a fabulous job on this film.

R12 Julianne was pregnant and she’s showing throughout the whole film wtf.

R1 Aren't most movies (and TV for that matter) made for women and homosexuals?

Unless it is an action or horror flick, most straight guys are only watching because their woman is making them do it in exchange for some pussy.

[quote] Todd Haynes did a fabulous job on this film.

Has he dome much over the ensuing 20 years?

The people in this film have all the vivacity and dynamism of waxworks in Madam Tussauds.

Their main function is to wear clothes and make pretty pictures.

The French had a word for it.

It’s deemed as Macho no matter how dehumanizing/hen-pecked the man looks, as long as other straight dudes deem it necessary to stick a stinky fish. Than all is forgiven and allows a fist pump.

Todd had worked with Julianne Moore in SAFE (1995).

Another hidden gem.

Julianne: “My sofa is toxic”

He got to his peak with CAROL…(at least I think so).

So Todd Haynes makes films with beautiful tableaus, "Their (characters) main function is to wear clothes and make pretty pictures."

And he hit his peak with "Carol" a film about lesbians?

Think about what you're saying...

Which is better?

"Far From Heaven" or "Carol" ?

Beautiful movie. I found Carol very boring by comparison.

Do you prefer beef or fish?

Do you prefer saccharine or fish?

When I hear a director is postmodern I reach for my revolver.

I hated "Carol" -- and I'm a lesbian.

But I love "Far From Heaven."

R52, you gave almost a perfect description of what an audience is like at a Sirk film.

But I would alter it a little.

A third of the audience in a cinema showing Sirk was laughing with the movie while another third of the audience were laughing at it. But the remaining third were both laughing with it and at it.

Reading interviews with Sirk is fascinating because he really did try to get reality through the artifice. He cast Bacall in Written on the Wind because she had a "calculating" quality that would play against the virtue of the character in the script. He thought Lana Turners limitations as an actor made her character seem false in Imitation of Life--because he felt the character did not understand real emotion.