Far From Heaven is an underrated masterpiece

Far From Heaven is far from underrated.

I liked it when Dennis Quaid got drunk and got all queeny in front of his work friends.

And then he ended up with the college guy he seduced when the family was on vacation in Florida.

Julianne Moore.....was she it it.....seriously?

Never seen it. Adding to my watch list. Remember when Dennis Quaid was almost unbelievably hot?

R3 He still is hot to me. But I have a sick fetish.

Great movie, enjoyable straight up or with a camp eye. Quaid was tipped for a nomination. Did everyone hate him? Patricia Clarkson is also great as a frenemie.

We had that cockatoo painting when I was a kid. I laughed out loud in the theater when I saw it.

She was also wonderful in The End of the Affair with Ralph Fiennes.

Viola Davis has a small part in the film playing Julianne Moore’s maid. Unsettling to see that now I did. It was unsettling and I’m sticking by unsettling.

I thought it was great and enjoyed it, but I've never had the desire to rewatch it.

I'd recommend it to others.

There was a musical starring Kelli O’Hara, who was pregnant during the run. Steven Pasquale played the Dennis Quaid character. It was pleasant, but pretty lifeless. She had a really sad song about the thanklessness of being a perfect wife. But theater was not the right medium for the story.

I still think this is Todd Haynes’s best movie, and that’s saying a lot.

I slept with the guy he hooked-up with.

Who? There are at least seven men mentioned on this thread.

[quote]But theater was not the right medium for the story

It definitely isn't. Like Sunset Blvd, Far From Heaven is a purely cinematic concoction. The assignment was to replicate a Sirk film, which it beautifully succeeded in doing. Without the cinematography and performances pitched in that style and for that medium, you're stuck with a standard , dated melodrama.

Patricia Clarkson plays Eleanor Fine, a catty and well-appointed 1950s suburbanite who bears an uncanny resemblance to Agnes Moorhead.

“I’ve never worked on a film that was so elaborate in the attention to detail. Everything had to be looked at, down to your gloves, hair and eye shadow,” she says of director Todd Haynes’ strict homage to the posh aesthetic of Douglas Sirk (“Imitation of Life,” “Magnificent Obsession”).

“Right down to the nail polish, the lips — every color had to be incredibly right and specific.”

And with the right amount of stylish panache mixed with wealthy racism and homophobia, Clarkson gives a performance that jolts audiences out of their seats.

“Eleanor doesn’t ‘understand’ homosexuality. And that really existed back then. She thinks of herself as incredibly sophisticated and very advanced for her time. But she wasn’t. That’s the truth. So many people like her thought they were so enlightened. And they weren’t,” Clarkson explains during a recent phone interview.

Dennis quaid was sexy af in this movie. Too bad he’s maga now

Clarkson’s 180 turn when Moore tells her about Haysbert made her the true villain.

My only issue with the film is how obvious it is that Moore is pregnant and nothing can disguise it.

A wonderful film whichI I appreciated more on a second viewing. A reworking of Douglas Sirk's All That Heaven Allows (1955} starring Rock Hudson and Jane Wyman.

Far From Heaven is far superior to the overrated mediocre films that have won Best Picture in the last 20 years i.e. The Artist, 12 Years a Slave, CODA, Oppenheimer, Everything ,Everywhere All at Once,, Argo, Anora, The Shape of Water, Crash, The Departed, A Beautiful Mind

'Far From Heaven,' Todd Haynes's heartfelt tribute to the great Technicolor melodramas of the 1950's, nearly swept its categories in the New York Film Critics Circle Awards yesterday, collecting five prizes, including one for best picture. Mr. Haynes was named best director, Edward Lachman won for his cinematography on the film, and Patricia Clarkson and Dennis Quaid were chosen best supporting actress and actor.

One surprise, given the critics' embrace of 'Far From Heaven,' was that its star, Julianne Moore, did not win the best actress award, which went to Diane Lane for 'Unfaithful,' Adrian Lyne's torrid melodrama of adultery. Daniel Day-Lewis was named best actor for his portrayal of a 19th-century Manhattan warlord in Martin Scorsese's 'Gangs of New York.'-NYTimes

[quote]r15 = well-appointed 1950s suburbanite who bears an uncanny resemblance to Agnes Moorhead

I thought Dennis Haysbert was the best part and deserved an oscar nomination. The scene where Julianne and him dance is great.

Other than that, I wasn't overly impressed with it. I thought Dennis Quaid overacted. And Julianne was ok, but not stellar. Her work is overrated.

The film seemed like it didn't know whether it wanted to be a touching homage to the technicolor dramas or a biting satire of them.

Where is it ever satiric, r21? Have you ever seen a Sirk film?

Julianne Moore's performance for starters R22. I expected her to faint from having "the vapors" at one point. It bordered on parody

And I've seen Sirk movies.

It’s one of my favorites. I rewatch it every few years. Julianne should have won the Oscar that year, but lost to Nicole’s fake nose.

There’s a problem that a lot of the contemporary audience, like R21, has, where if something is stylized then they assume it has to be a joke. Today’s audiences prize “realism” above all else. They don’t understand that heightened or melodramatic material can reveal greater truths.

The production design of this film was just incredible. The colors, the costumes the sets -- just perfection.

R26 That was the remarkable thing about the film. Impressive.

This film should've swept the Oscars - Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Cinematography, Best Costumes, Best Hair & Makeup and Best Score. I was not a happy camper in March 2003.

The 'have a splendid life' scene is the best part of the film.

And now Quaid has a gay son in real life.

[quote]R19 New York Film Critics Circle Awards…. One surprise, given the critics' embrace of 'Far From Heaven,' was that its star, Julianne Moore, did not win the best actress award, which went to Diane Lane for 'Unfaithful,' Adrian Lyne's torrid melodrama of adultery.

Diane Lane was great in that. She did deserve the award over Moore.

Julianne Moore is our greatest working actress. Seriously.

[quote] And now Quaid has a gay son in real life.

Jack Quaid is gay?

I liked it more than Safe (1995)

I like it more than Vanya on 42nd Street (1994)

It is one of my favorite movies. Not for a particular performance by a single actor but for the overall feat. It is a carbon copy of a Sirk film. It was incredible.

R33 No.

I didn't notice she was pregnant I told it was pointed out. One of my mother's favourite movies with Imitation Of Life, and I thought this movie was terrific.

*until it was pointed out.

R16 "Too bad he’s maga now".

I wonder if their nepo-baby Jack is also a squatter/denier/bail-jumper/MAGA?

What a legacy!

I wish they had created a trailer for the movie that was similar to 1950s trailers. That would have been perfect.

[quote]There’s a problem that a lot of the contemporary audience, like [R21], has, where if something is stylized then they assume it has to be a joke.

That's not what I said, and don't speak for me.

I said the director doesn't seem to know whether it wants to be a serious homage to the Sirk movies or wink at the audience like it's satirizing the timeframe. Moore and Quaid's over the top scenes versus Haysbert's and Moore's far more grounded (and better) scenes being a prime example.

Julianne doesn't seem to know either, which is why her performance veers all over the place.

Too bad Quaid is a Trumper now. He's genuinely good in this

[quote] Moore and Quaid's over the top scenes versus Haysbert's and Moore's far more grounded (and better) scenes being a prime example.

How strange. It’s almost like the movie gives more depth to the characters and relationships who would have been caricatured in a 1950s movie. I can’t imagine why!

R44 I watch Truffaut and Renoir. Stop embarrassing yourself over this.

Not being a learned cinephile like most of you gentlemen, I knew nothing of Sirk until you guys enlightened me. But even before that, this was one of my all-time-favorite movies.

I love Julianne Moore. I don't love everything she's done, but I certainly love this.

Well, that settles it, r45. You watch French films, so there is no debate about your insight into Hollywood films. It’s cute that you think no one else watches Truffaut or Renoir.

I thought she should have won the Oscar for this film.

Certainly not for that Still Alice one.

Since Todd Haynes wouldn't wait for Julianne to have her baby, and would not cast anyone else, why not just make the character pregnant?

Juli should have put that baby on hold, if you know what I mean.

I guess the husband leaving his wife who is pregnant is just too much to forgive.

Imagine James Gandolfini as Frank

Or Russell Crowe?

Or Jeff Bridges??

R10 You’re thinking of The Bridges of Madison County.

Which of Quaid’s sons are gay?

R53, no I’m not. In fact, I saw Bridges shortly after Far from Heaven. Elena Shaddow played Francesca, but a very pregnant Kelli O’Hara was in the house with Bart Sher and Jason Robert Brown. She gave birth the next month and opened Bridge five months later. In fact, all three productions opened and closed within a single calendar year.

R12, you owe us details.

I like period films.